Convict's lawyer turns to rights court

A lawyer acting for the Libyan agent convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing urged the European Court of Human Rights yesterday to hear his client's case.

Scottish solicitor Edward Mackechnie said Abdel Basset al-Megrahi had not received a fair trail when he was convicted by a special court in the Netherlands in 2001.

Mackechnie, who has lodged an application for a hearing with the European court, said Megrahi's human rights were violated and accused the US government and intelligence sources of acting as "a controlling agent" to influence the outcome of the trial.

"My client had a right to be treated the same as any other person facing a murder charge under Scots law," Mackechnie said in a statement. "Yet he did not receive the same treatment. He did not receive a jury trial."

Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison for blowing up New York-bound Pan Am flight 103, killing 259 mostly American passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground.

His appeal against the conviction was turned down in March this year and he is serving time in a prison in Glasgow.

The Lockerbie bombing sparked 10 years of wrangling between Britain, the United States and Libya which culminated in a UN-brokered compromise to allow Megrahi and a co-defendant to stand trial at a Scottish court on neutral ground.

Held at a converted airbase in the Netherlands, it examined Britain's biggest ever case of mass murder.

Mackechnie said the trial, at which Megrahi's co-defendant was acquitted, violated European Convention articles on numerous grounds.

He said media coverage and comments from British government officials in the run-up to the highly publicised trial meant Megrahi never stood a chance of a fair hearing.

He also accused the US government of exacting "control over access to important information and evidence over the handling of key witnesses".

Mackechnie said there was an unreasonable delay in bringing his client to trial.

The European Court of Human Rights has no formal power to overturn the decision of a Scottish court and therefore would not be able to order Megrahi's release.

However, Mackechnie said he was confident a positive outcome from the Strasbourg court would trigger a rethink in Britain.

"It's hoped the European Court will agree there's been a violation of human rights," he told Sky Television news.

"If a finding to that effect is eventually made, the UK government as a contracting party must - and I think would - react."