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In relief to family, Scottish body refers Lockerbie bombing case for appeal

In relief to family, Scottish body refers Lockerbie bombing case for appeal

Abdel Basset Ali el-Megrahi accussed of Lockerbie bombing

The Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission (SCCRC) has referred to the Lockerbie bombing case to the High Court allowing the man convicted for the incident to file a fresh appeal.

The London to New York Pan Am flight 103 was blown up in mid-air over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988 killing all 270 people on board, mostly American.

The Scottish commission said its decision was based after it conducted a review of new material which allowed the family of the late Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to appeal the conviction.

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Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was the only person convicted of the crime. Abdel Basset died in 2012 after being released three years earlier by Scotland's government on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with cancer.

Megrahi was found guilty of the bombing in 2001 and was jailed for life. Megrahi, however, always claimed to be innocent. US and British investigators had indicted Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah on murder charge and accused them of being Libyan intelligence officers.

The duo was formally charged in 1999 at The Hague after Libya handed them over to Dutch authorities. Fhimah was found not guilty and was sent home.

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