Lockerbie bomber's family set to appeal

[This is the headline over a report by Ben Borland in today's edition of the Sunday Express. It reads in part:]

Two of the Lockerbie bomber’s children are set to launch an appeal against his conviction within days of his death, the Sunday Express understands.

Ghada and Khaled al-Megrahi are determined to clear their father’s name and have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare another legal challenge in the Scottish courts.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is believed to be close to death in a coma in a Libyan hospital, dropped his second appeal shortly before his compassionate release in August 2009.

Ghada, 27, who is a qualified lawyer in Tripoli, and Khaled, 24, now plan to use the evidence gathered by his legal team, much of which has never been in the public domain before.

Legal experts said there is a much greater likelihood of an appeal being granted after death if the request comes from a member of the convicted person’s immediate family.

Both siblings, the eldest of Megrahi’s five children, spent many years in Scotland and are understood to be confident about tackling the intricacies of the legal system.

Families campaigner Jim Swire, who met the entire family when he flew to Tripoli to visit Megrahi recently, said they were determined to ensure that the “fight goes on” after his death.

“Between the two of them they know what they are going to do,” he added.

Khaled has also signed a Scottish Parliament petition calling for a new inquiry into the 1988 atrocity, which claimed 270 lives when a Pan Am passenger jet was blown up over Scotland.

Mr Swire said: “I spoke to him before he signed it and he was in favour of anything that might lead to a further inspection of the conviction of his dad. I also understand from my visit that the money set aside by Colonel Gaddafi for fighting his corner has pretty much gone. His advice to us has been to hold your horses until poor old Baset has gone.”

Robert Black, Professor Emeritus of Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh, explained Megrahi’s appeal was now “dead” and a fresh application would have to be made to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.

“There are two tests for granting an appeal,” he said. “One, has there been a miscarriage of justice and the SCCRC has already decided that there may have been.

And two, is it in the interests of justice?

“It would be easier for the convicted man’s family to establish that an appeal is in the interests of justice than for anybody else, such as a victim’s relative like Jim Swire.” (...)

In a rare interview before Megrahi’s release, after Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill judged he had less than three months to live, both Ghada and Khaled spoke of their anger.

Khaled, who recently completed a four year IT degree at a Glasgow university, said: “We have always tried to believe in the Scottish justice system and don’t want to be let down now. Everyone in Libya believes my father is innocent and I think many here do too.”

Ghada added: “I wanted to go into law because of what happened to my father and people like him who are wrongly accused.”

[Any attempt by Mr Megrahi's family to launch a fresh appeal via the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission would, of course, have to surmount the disgraceful new hurdles erected by the Scottish Parliament in section 7 of the Criminal Procedure (Legal Assistance, Detention and Appeals) (Scotland) Act 2010 (the Cadder emergency legislation).]