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Lockerbie Bomber's Family Launches Bid to Appeal Conviction

by Associated Press

   LONDON --

   The family of a Libyan man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing
   launched a new effort Tuesday to posthumously clear his name.

   Relatives of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi say he was wrongly convicted of the
   airliner bombing, which killed 270 people.
   The family's lawyer, Aamer Anwar, handed a dossier of evidence to the
   Glasgow offices of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which
   will decide whether to hand the case to an appeals court.
   Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over
   the Scottish town of Lockerbie on Dec. 21, 1988, killing all 259 people
   aboard and 11 on the ground. Many victims were American college
   students flying home for Christmas.
   Al-Megrahi lost one appeal and abandoned another before being freed in
   2009 on compassionate grounds. He died of cancer in 2012, still
   protesting his innocence.

   The latest appeal seeks to overturn the murder conviction, citing
   concerns about the evidence that convicted al-Megrahi, including doubts
   about the timer alleged to have detonated the bomb.
   It is supported by several relatives of Lockerbie victims, including
   Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the attack. He and some other
   relatives believe al-Megrahi was wrongfully convicted.
   "The reputation of Scottish law has suffered both at home and
   internationally because of widespread doubts about the conviction of
   Mr. al-Megrahi," Anwar said. "It is in the interests of justice and
   restoring confidence in our criminal justice system that these doubts
   can be addressed."
   Gerard Sinclair, chief executive of the Criminal Cases Review
   Commission, said the body would "give careful consideration to this new
   application."