[At a meeting held on 11 March 2026 the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee kept open the Justice for Megrahi campaign’s petition PE1370. What follows is an account of the historical background:]
More than three decades after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, the political and legal debate surrounding the conviction of Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi continues. One of the most persistent mechanisms keeping the issue alive in Scotland is Petition PE1370, lodged in the Scottish Parliament in 2010 and still technically open today.
The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988 killed 270 people, including passengers, crew and residents of Lockerbie. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack ever to occur in the United Kingdom. The investigation that followed involved police forces and intelligence agencies across several countries and eventually led to charges against two Libyan intelligence officials.
Because of diplomatic complications, the suspects were tried under Scottish law at a special court sitting in the Netherlands at Camp Zeist. In 2001 the court convicted Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi and sentenced him to life imprisonment, while his co‑accused Lamin Fhimah was acquitted. The conviction was upheld in Megrahi’s first appeal in 2002.
However, the case soon became controversial. Critics argued that key elements of the prosecution case were uncertain. Central among these concerns was the testimony of Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, who identified Megrahi as the man who bought clothing that surrounded the suitcase bomb. Gauci’s identification was criticised as inconsistent and influenced by media exposure. Questions were also raised about the forensic evidence linking a tiny fragment of circuit board to Libyan intelligence and about the broader theory that Libya alone was responsible for the attack.
The debate intensified in 2007 when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission completed a four‑year investigation into the conviction. The Commission concluded that there were six grounds on which a miscarriage of justice might have occurred and referred the case back to the appeal court. That appeal never reached a conclusion because Megrahi abandoned it in 2009 shortly before he was released from prison by the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He returned to Libya and died in 2012.
Because the appeal was abandoned, many of the questions raised by the review were never fully tested in court. This gap in the legal process became the central argument for campaigners who believed the case should be re‑examined.
In 2010 campaigners led by Dr Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the bombing, lodged Petition PE1370 in the Scottish Parliament. The petition called for the Scottish Government to establish an independent public inquiry into the conviction of Megrahi. Over the years the Public Petitions Committee repeatedly decided to keep the petition open while related investigations and appeals continued.
The legal debate resurfaced again in 2020 when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the case back to the High Court of Justiciary for a second time. Megrahi’s family pursued the appeal after his death, arguing that evidence had been withheld and that the identification evidence was unreliable. In January 2021 the appeal court rejected the challenge, ruling that although aspects of the evidence had been criticised, a reasonable court could still have convicted Megrahi. In 2022 the United Kingdom Supreme Court refused permission for a further appeal, effectively bringing the legal process in Scotland to an end.
Despite these decisions, the political debate has not disappeared. Some relatives of victims, lawyers and former investigators continue to argue that the conviction has never been adequately scrutinised in light of the concerns raised by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. Members of the Scottish Parliament from different political parties have periodically suggested that a public inquiry might still be necessary to resolve lingering doubts.
At the same time the international investigation has continued. In 2022 a Libyan suspect, Abu Agila Masud, was transferred to the United States to face charges related to the construction of the bomb used in the attack. His trial may produce new evidence about the operation that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103.
For this reason Petition PE1370 has remained open within the parliamentary system. By carrying the petition forward into new parliamentary sessions, committees have effectively preserved the option of revisiting the case if significant new information emerges. The petition has therefore become less a single political demand than a continuing parliamentary placeholder for one of the most controversial criminal cases in modern Scottish history.
Timeline of Key Events
1988 – Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, killing 270 people.
1991 – Two Libyan suspects, Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi and Lamin Fhimah, are formally charged.
2000–2001 – Trial held under Scottish law at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.
2001 – Megrahi convicted; Fhimah acquitted.
2002 – Megrahi’s first appeal is rejected.
2007 – Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission concludes a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and refers the case for appeal.
2009 – Megrahi abandons the appeal and is released from prison on compassionate grounds.
2010 – Petition PE1370 lodged in the Scottish Parliament calling for an independent inquiry.
2012 – Megrahi dies in Libya.
2018–2020 – Further review by the Criminal Cases Review Commission leads to another referral for appeal.
2021 – High Court of Justiciary rejects the posthumous appeal.
2022 – UK Supreme Court refuses permission for a further appeal.
2022–present – Libyan suspect Abu Agila Masud faces prosecution in the United States.
Key Figures Associated with Petition PE1370
Dr Jim Swire – British doctor and leading campaigner for a full inquiry; his daughter Flora died in the Lockerbie bombing.
Members of the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee – the parliamentary body responsible for considering and keeping PE1370 open.
Abdelbaset al‑Megrahi – Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the bombing in 2001.
Lamin Fhimah – Co‑accused at the original trial who was acquitted.
Tony Gauci – Maltese shopkeeper whose identification evidence played a key role in the conviction.
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission – the body that twice referred the conviction back to the appeal court citing possible miscarriage of justice.
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