This is the confident headline over an article by David Horovitz in today's Jerusalem Post. It quotes the well-known views of Hans Koechler, Jim Swire and myself. See
http://www.jpost.com/International/Lockerbie-bomber-to-go-free-on-appeal
A longer version of the article will be published in the weekend edition of the newspaper.
If this procedural hearing is the start of Megrahi's appeal process, does this essentially mean that, given the court accepts the arguments for his appeal, Al-Megrahi may well be freed tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteEddie
There won't be any consideration at all tomorrow of the merits of the appeal. So there's no chance of Megrahi being freed, unless the Crown threw in the towel and conceded that his conviction had amounted to a miscarriage of justice. The chances of the Crown doing that are virtually nil.
ReplyDeleteWhat will happen at tomorrow's hearing is that the court (a) will be asked by Megrahi's counsel to order the Crown to make available certain documents and (b) will set a timetable for the progress of the appeal towards a full hearing.
Professor,
ReplyDeleteYou once told me in a phone interview that al-Megrahi could be freed pending the appeal. Can this really happen if these documents are made available? And if yes, when?
I expect that at some point Megrahi's team will apply for interim liberation (bail). But this will almost certainly not happen until the full grounds of appeal have been lodged. At the hearing held this morning it was ordered that the Grounds of Appeal be lodged by 21 December 2007. I would therefore expect an application for release to be made in January 2008.
ReplyDelete