Lockerbie bomber's defence highlights identity issue

The defence for a Libyan intelligence agent appealing his conviction for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing turned the spotlight on the…

The defence for a Libyan intelligence agent appealing his conviction for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing turned the spotlight on the key issue it hopes will secure acquittal: did he buy the clothes wrapped around the bomb?

 William Taylor and Abdel Basset al-Megrahi
Lawyer William Taylor addresses the Scottish court in Holland, before his client Abdel Basset al-Megrahi (R).

On the second day of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi's appeal, his defence began outlining its contention that the three Scottish judges who convicted al-Megrahi did not adequately explain their handling of inconsistencies - including those in the crucial witness account of a Maltese clothes salesman, Mr Tony Gauci, who identified al-Megrahi as the person who bought the clothes.

Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison on January 31 last year, after this special Scottish court set up in the Netherlands said he planted the bomb which caused Pan Am flight 103 to explode over Lockerbie, Scotland, on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people.

"Even the most credible of witnesses may be unreliable or plainly wrong," Mr Taylor quoted from the original verdict.

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"We are satisfied that on two matters he was entirely reliable, namely the list of clothing that he sold and the fact that the purchaser was a Libyan. On the matter of identification of the first accused there are undoubtedly problems," the verdict stated.

Central to the prosecution's case was that the suitcase in which the bomb was packed had come from Malta as unaccompanied baggage before being put in a plane for London in Frankfurt.

AFP