This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Lockerbie appeal to be broadcast live
09/01/2002
The BBC has been granted permission to broadcast live
the appeal hearing of the convicted Lockerbie bomber when
it goes ahead later this month.
The decision by Lord Justice General, Lord Cullen, means
that proceedings at the special Scottish Court in the
Netherlands will also be streamed on the Internet with a
simultaneous Arabic translation. Other broadcasters may now
also apply to broadcast the hearing.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence
officer, was found guilty last January of the murder of 270
people by blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in
December 1988. He has remained in custody at Camp van
Zeist, the site of the special court, since then. His
co-accused Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah was acquitted.
It will be the first time any Scottish appeal court
will have appeared live on television when the appeal
begins on Wednesday, January 23. The BBC's application to
televise the original trial, supported by eight other
broadcasters, was rejected because, the Crown argued, it
would compromise the safety of some witnesses and
discourage them from attending.
In the case of the appeal, a strict protocol has been
drawn up to ensure that, if new evidence is presented to
the five appeal judges, witnesses will not be filmed.
Although the trial conducted by a panel of three judges
sitting without a jury was not televised, a live
closed-circuit link was provided in both America and
Scotland for relatives of victims as an alternative to
travelling to Holland.