Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi
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Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi (Arabic: عبد الباسط محمد علي المقرحي) (born April 1, 1952) is a former Libyan intelligence officer, head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, and director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Tripoli. [1] On January 31, 2001, he was convicted, by a panel of Scottish Judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, of 270 counts of murder for his part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and is serving his sentence in Greenock prison, near Glasgow. His co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah was acquitted.
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[edit] Background
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Al Megrahi had formerly held the title of Director of the Center for Strategic Studies in Tripoli, Libya. He was alleged by the FBI to be a Libyan intelligence officer, working under cover as Chief of Airline Security for Libyan Arab Airlines. For his role in the 1988 attack, he was charged with "Conspiracy to Destroy a Civil Aircraft of the United States" and "Killing Nationals of the United States" among other charges filed by the U.S. Government. Megrahi was first indicted for murder in November 1991, and allegedly remained under house arrest in Tripoli.
Seven years after the 1988 attack, as United States fugitives from justice, on March 23, 1995 he and Fhimah were each listed as the 441st and 442nd additions to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, which offered a $4 million reward from the U.S. Air Line Pilots Association, Air Transport Association, and Department of State, and $50,000 from the FBI, for information leading to their arrest. [2] Protracted negotiations with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and the imposition of United Nations economic sanctions against Libya eventually brought the two accused to trial in a neutral country (see Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial). Consequently, eleven years after the bombing, Megrahi was finally placed under arrest at Camp Zeist, Netherlands on April 5, 1999.
[edit] Appeals
Megrahi's appeal against his conviction was refused on March 14, 2002 by a panel of five Scottish Judges at Camp Zeist[3].
On November 24, 2003 Megrahi appeared at the High Court in Glasgow, in front of the three Judges who originally sentenced him at Camp Zeist, to learn that he would have to serve at least 27 years in jail – back-dated to April 1999 when he was extradited from Libya – before he could be considered for parole. This court hearing was the result of the incorporation into Scots law of the European Convention of Human Rights in 2001, nine months after Megrahi's sentence was imposed, which required him to be told the extent of the "punishment part" of his life term. On May 31, 2004 he was granted leave to appeal against his 27-year sentence.[4]The appeal against sentence was scheduled to be heard in Edinburgh by a panel of five Judges on July 11, 2006. However, the Scottish Court of Criminal Appeal decided to postpone the July hearing to allow consideration of whether the appeal against sentence ought to be heard at Camp Zeist rather than in Edinburgh.[5]
On September 23, 2003 lawyers acting for Megrahi applied to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) for a review of the case (both sentence and conviction), arguing that there had been a miscarriage of justice. Most commentators predict that the SCCRC will refer Megrahi's case back to the High Court of Justiciary for a fresh appeal against conviction. On November 1, 2006 Megrahi was reported to have dropped his demand for the new appeal to be held at Camp Zeist.[6]
In an interview with The Scotsman newspaper of January 31, 2006, retired Scottish Judge Lord MacLean – one of the three who convicted Megrahi in 2001 – said he believed the SCCRC would return the case for a further appeal against conviction: "They can't be working for two years without producing something with which to go to the court." MacLean added that any new appeal would indicate the flexibility of Scots law, rather than a weakness: "It might even be the strength of the system – it is capable of looking at itself subsequently and determining a ground for appeal."
[edit] Family
He is married to Aisha, and has four sons, including Khaleb who attended the trial, and a daughter, Ghada. According to British newspaper articles published during his trial, he was born in Tripoli, and was educated in the United States and the United Kingdom.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
- Pan Am Flight 103
- Investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
- Alternative theories into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
- Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial
