London - Evidence that Iran planned and financed the 1988 Lockerbie bombing could cast a new shadow over the trial of two Libyans accused of the murder of 270 people.
According to the US television network CBS yesterday, an Iranian defector, named as Ahmad Behbahani, who is said to have co-ordinated Iranian terrorist operations for a decade, has documents to prove his claims. The CIA is debriefing Mr Behbahani, now in protective custody in Turkey, the CBS News TV programme 60 Minutes reported.
The two Libyans, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifah Fhimah, are accused of planting the bomb on Pan Am 103, and are now being tried before Scottish judges at the former US airbase of Camp Zeist in the Netherlands. The two deny the charges, blaming two Syrian-based Palestinian factions, one with links to Iran.
Defence lawyers have also told the court they will seek to incriminate a prosecution witness, Parviz Taheri. Nothing is known about him, but his name is Iranian.