dictionary

One guilty in Lockerbie trial

CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands -- One of the Libyans accused of murdering 270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has been found guilty of murder. The second defendant was found not guilty.

Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, 48, faces life imprisonment in a special cell that has been built in Glasgow, Scotland.

He now has two weeks to appeal against the decision, but CNN Senior Correspondent Richard Blystone says an appeal will probably be launched immediately.

An appeal could last around a year, and it is likely to be up to seven months before the appeal is heard.

AUDIO CNN's Richard Blystone has the verdict 170K/15 sec. AIFF or WAV sound CNN's Walter Rodgers on a collective sigh of relief in Lockerbie 441K/40 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Relative of Lockerbie victim Bert Ammerman: This leads to Gadhafi's doorstep 308K/28 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44 was found not guilty and can immediately walk free, and will not face any further legal action in British, U.S. or other courts.

It is expected he will now be handed over to the Dutch authorities, before flying back to Libya on a United Nations plane.

Both decisions were unanimous.

The Pan Am Boeing 747 aircraft blew up above the Scottish town on December 21, 1988, killing all 259 passengers and crew, and 11 people on the ground.

Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi, 48, and co-defendant Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, had pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

The trial, held at the Camp Zeist former U.S. air base in the Netherlands, was conducted under Scottish law and presided over by a panel of three Scottish judges.

CNN Senior Correspondent Richard Blystone says that British relatives, still seeking the whole story of who was behind the bombing, are expected to demand a full public inquiry.

And in America, a civil case against Libya is planned.

Prosecutors claimed that the bomb was loaded at Malta's Luqa airport onto an Air Malta flight for Frankfurt, West Germany.

From there, the prosecution said it was transferred to a feeder flight to London's Heathrow Airport, where it joined Pan Am 103 bound for New York.

The prosecution said Megrahi, a Libyan agent, brought the bomb to Malta, while Fahima used his airport connections to help him slip it aboard.

	LEGAL RESOURCES
Latest Legal News
Law Library
FindLaw Consumer Center Select a topic Bankruptcy Discrimination Divorce Estate Planning Landlord-Tenant Personal Injury Taxes

The purpose of the attack, according to the prosecution, was to further the purposes of the Libyan intelligence services.

The defence teams for Megrahi and Fahima said a German cell of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) were responsible for the attack.

Members of the PFLP-GC were among the first suspects in the bombing after German police raided a hide-out several months before the Lockerbie crash.

Megrahi's counsel William Taylor said the prosecution had not proven its case that the bomb originated in Malta and that baggage security at Frankfurt airport was sloppier than at Luqa.

Taylor also suggested that a fragment of the timer found after the disaster and used by the prosecution as evidence had been tampered with before it was sent for forensic examination.

More than 230 witnesses were called in the trial over about eight months.

The defence did need to prove anything -- it only needed to show "sufficient doubt" over the prosecution case in the minds of the judges.

The judges had three verdicts available to them: Guilty, not guilty or not proven.

Observers say the prosecution relied on largely circumstantial evidence and adopted a risky all-or-nothing strategy of pursuing a single charge of murder.

Lesser charges of conspiracy to murder and violation of aviation security contained in the original indictment were dropped during the trial.

The trial began in May after an agreement between the U.S., Britain and Libya allowed the men to be transferred to the Netherlands.

Now that the verdict has been announced, it is expected that Britain will swiftly review its relations with Libya.

While diplomatic ties between the two nations were fully re-established in 1999, officials said the response of the Libyan Government to the Lockerbie verdict would be key to the future relationship.

Reporter's Notebook: Remembering the Lockerbie tragedy
August 21, 2000
Lockerbie verdict to come on Wednesday
January 30, 2001
Lockerbie trial enters final stages
January 29, 2001
Reporter's Notebook: Justice unlikely to be swift in Lockerbie trial
January 20, 2001
Libyan agent denies bomb link
November 16, 2000
Lockerbie bomb route questioned
January 16, 2001
Defence winds up Lockerbie case
January 11, 2001
Lockerbie lawyers seek murder verdicts
January 9, 2001
Lockerbie judges reject acquittal plea
November 29, 2000

Lockerbie Verdict
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal
Scottish Courts
Lockerbie Trial Briefing
Libyan Mission to the U.N.
Pan Am Flight 103

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.