Court Grants 2nd Extension in Lockerbie Case

The High Court in Scotland said Wednesday that it had granted defense lawyers a second six-week extension to prepare a formal appeal against the conviction of a Libyan man for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

“The period for lodging grounds of appeal has been extended by six weeks from May 2,” the court said in a statement.

In January, a special Scottish court in the Netherlands found Libyan secret agent Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi guilty of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town.

He received a life sentence for the murder of the 270 victims, with a recommendation that he serve at least 20 years in a Scottish prison.

Megrahi’s Edinburgh-based defense team quickly indicated that it would appeal, giving the team a statutory six-week window to draw up arguments for an appeal hearing.

In mid-March, this first period was extended by six weeks. The extension is a fairly common move in Scottish legal cases.

The second deadline expired Wednesday.

Under Scottish law, there is no automatic right of appeal and once the formal written grounds have been lodged, a judge has to decide whether to allow a full appeal hearing to proceed.

Megrahi’s defense lawyers were unavailable for comment.