The family of former Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi who was found guilty in 2001 of the murder of 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents of Lockerbie have been refused permission to take an appeal against his conviction to the UK’s highest court.
In January, judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh rejected an appeal brought by Megrahi’s family, who had argued that there had been a possible misconduct of justice, but the same court had now refused permission for them to appeal that decision.
A written judgment issued on Thursday by Lord Carloway, the Lord Justice General, said the court “has had some difficulty in understanding the exact nature of the challenge”.
It said: “Although the case is clearly one of public importance, the proposed grounds of appeal do not raise points of law of general public importance.
“The principles of law which the court applied were all well known, settled and largely uncontroversial in the appeal.
“For these reasons, the court refuses permission to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.”
Megrahi was released from prison in 2009 on compassionate grounds while terminally ill with cancer, and died in Libya in 2012.
Megrahi’s son Ali said in a statement: “I have now instructed our legal team to seek leave to appeal directly to the UK Supreme Court which is the final court of appeal for my father’s case. I regard my father Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi as the 271st victim of Lockerbie.”
Aamer Anwar, the family’s lawyer, said they will now seek leave to appeal directly to the UK Supreme Court, the final court of appeal for the case.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
