Lawyers for the former Libyan agent jailed over the 1988 Lockerbie plane bombing, in which 270 people were killed, on Tuesday launched an appeal against his conviction. They also claimed that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi's health was worsening as he battled terminal cancer behind bars in Scotland.
The Libyan was not in court at the start of the appeal which is expected to last four weeks. Megrahi is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years over the downing of Pan Am flight 103 in the skies above the Scottish village of Lockerbie, while en route from London to New York.
The Libyan - who has repeatedly protested his innocence - failed last year to secure his release pending the appeal, on the grounds that he was dying from cancer. He lost a first appeal in 2002. The new legal hearing began in Edinburgh nearly two years after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) referred the case for appeal, saying there were grounds to suspect that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.
Megrahi was sentenced in 2001 by three Scottish judges sitting at an extraordinary tribunal in The Netherlands for blowing up Pan Am flight 103 on the night of December 21, 1988. Representing Megrahi Tuesday, lawyer Margaret Scott argued that the initial trial convicted him on "wholly circumstantial evidence."
"In our submission, it was wrong to do so," she said, adding: "The appellant's position is that there has been a miscarriage of justice in this case." She added that Megrahi's condition had "deteriorated," explaining that he would not be able to attend court but could listen to a live feed of proceedings, albeit while taking breaks during the day.
The blast killed all 259 on board and another 11 people on the ground. It plunged ties between oil-rich Libya and the West into a deep chill that has only thawed in recent years.
A Libyan official said earlier this month that Tripoli plans to seek the extradition of Megrahi, to allow him to continue his sentence in a Libyan prison. In May 2007, Britain and Libya signed a protocol agreement on the transfer of prisoners which the Libyan source says has been ratified by the two countries. The documents were due to be exchanged this month.
The 57-year-old Libyan former intelligence officer has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, but a Scottish court last November refused to free him on bail. The court cited experts as saying Megrahi could live for years depending on how successful his treatment was, but his wife Aisha told AFP in February that he "is in danger of dying" because of his worsening cancer. Megrahi protested his innocence in a statement released after the November verdict.
"I wish to reiterate that I had nothing to do with the Lockerbie bombing and that the fight for justice will continue regardless of whether I am alive to witness my name being cleared," he said. Relatives of some of the victims were in court again Tuesday, including Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed and who became a spokesman for the families. Swire argued after the November decision that Megrahi should be freed, saying: "It has never been a goal of our group to seek revenge."