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Court Grants 2nd Extension in Lockerbie Case

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From Reuters

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.

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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.

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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.

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