Lockerbie bomber lodges appeal

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Lawyers for Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi have lodged the grounds for his appeal against conviction.

Libyan Al Megrahi was jailed for life in January after being convicted by three Scottish judges at Camp Zeist for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 that claimed 270 lives.

The move, on Monday, came just two days before the deadline for submitting the full grounds to the Court of Appeal in Scotland, where the Boeing 747 crashed.

The grounds should have been lodged within six weeks of the bomber's conviction in January, but Al-Megrahi's legal team applied for, and were granted, two extensions of six weeks each.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office confirmed that the appeal grounds had been submitted to the Court of Appeal.

"They have been lodged, but the papers are not open to public inspection," an official at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh said.

It is unlikely that the grounds for appeal will be made public at this stage.

A judge sitting in chambers will now decide if the grounds warrant an appeal against conviction.

Assuming Al-Megrahi's appeal goes ahead, the hearing will take place before five judges at Camp Zeist, in Holland, where the original trial was held.

He was sentenced to life with a recommendation that he serve at least 20 years in a Scottish jail.

His co-defendant, Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, a Libyan Arab Airlines official, was acquitted of all charges.

During the eight-month trial 232 witnesses gave evidence for the prosecution, while only three appeared for the defence.

Under Scottish law, there is no automatic right of appeal and Al-Megrahi's Edinburgh-based defence team have spent months poring over the 10,200 pages of transcripts from the trial.

The New York-bound Pan Am Flight 103 exploded at 31,000 feet over the village of Lockerbie, 38 minutes after taking off from London on December 21, 1988.

All 259 people on board were killed and 11 people on the ground also died.

Reuters contributed to this report.