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The Scottish court in the Netherlands was a special sitting of the High Court of Justiciary set up under Scots law in a former United States Air Force base, Camp Zeist near Utrecht, in the Netherlands, for the trial of two Libyans charged with 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988. A school on the former base was converted into a judicial court for the trial.
Colin Boyd, Baron Boyd of Duncansby, is a former Scottish judge who was a Senator of the College of Justice from June 2012 to June 2024. He was Lord Advocate for Scotland from 24 February 2000 until his resignation on 4 October 2006. On 11 April 2006, Downing Street announced that Colin Boyd would take a seat as a crossbench life peer; however, he took the Labour whip after resigning as Lord Advocate. He was formally introduced in the House of Lords on 3 July 2006. On the day SNP leader Alex Salmond was elected First Minister of Scotland, it was reported that Boyd was quitting the Scottish Bar to become a part-time consultant with public law solicitors Dundas & Wilson. He told the Glasgow Herald, "This is a first. I don't think a Lord Advocate has ever done this—left the Bar and become a solicitor."
Peter Lovat Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, PC, QC was a Scottish politician and advocate.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi was a Libyan who was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tripoli, Libya, and an alleged Libyan intelligence officer. On 31 January 2001, Megrahi was convicted, by a panel of three Scottish judges sitting in a special court at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, of 270 counts of murder for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. His co-accused, Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, was found not guilty and was acquitted.
The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial began on 3 May 2000, more than 11 years after the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988. The 36-week bench trial took place at a specially convened Scottish Court in the Netherlands set up under Scots law and held at a disused United States Air Force base called Camp Zeist near Utrecht.
The investigation into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 began at 19:03 on 21 December 1988, when Pan Am Flight 103, en route from Frankfurt to Detroit with stopovers in London and New York City, was blown up over Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The perpetrators had intended the plane to crash into the sea, destroying any traceable evidence, but the late departure time of the aircraft meant that its explosion over land left a veritable trail of evidence. The investigation led to the prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories suggest a number of possible explanations for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988. Some of the theories preceded the official investigation by Scottish police and the FBI; others arose from different interpretation of evidence presented at Libyan agent Abdelbaset al-Megrahi's 2000–2001 trial; yet others have been developed independently by individuals and organisations outside the official investigation.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, established by the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.
William Taylor, KC has been a Scottish advocate since 1971 and now KC since 1986. He has also been a barrister in England and Wales since 1990 and a Queen's Counsel there since 1998. He has specialised in criminal defence work since the 1980s.
Robert Black is a Scottish lawyer who is Professor Emeritus of Scots Law at the University of Edinburgh. He has been an Advocate in Scotland since 1972, was in practice at the Bar and became a QC in 1987.
Herbert Swire, known better as Jim Swire, is an English doctor best known for his involvement in the aftermath of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which his daughter Flora was killed. Swire lobbied toward a solution for the difficulties in bringing suspects in the original bombing to trial, and later advocated the retrial and release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the originally convicted suspect in the case.
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Tony Gauci was the proprietor of Mary's House, a clothes shop in Sliema, Malta, who was a witness in the prosecution of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in relation to the Lockerbie Bombing.
Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by Clipper Maid of the Seas, a Boeing 747 registered N739PA. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, while the aircraft was in flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, it was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. Large sections of the aircraft crashed in a residential street in Lockerbie, killing 11 residents. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom.
Hans Köchler's Lockerbie trial observer mission stemmed from the dispute between the United Kingdom, the United States, and Libya concerning arrangements for the trial of two Libyans accused of causing the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
Mebo Telecommunications AG is owned by Swiss businessmen Erwin Meister and Edwin Bollier.
Alistair John MacKenzie Duff is a former Scottish solicitor and sheriff who qualified as a solicitor-advocate in 1993, and later became Director of the Judicial Institute of Scotland before resigning after being arrested and charged with undisclosed offences.
References
- ↑ "Justice 1 Committee Official Report 20 June 2006". Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
- ↑ "Fingerprint evidence challenged". BBC Panorama. 8 July 2001. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
- ↑ "Cover-up, conspiracy and the Lockerbie bomb connection". Scotland on Sunday. Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
- ↑ MacMillan, Arthur; Mega, Marcello (12 February 2006). "Criminality and cover-up". Edinburgh: Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
- ↑ "News Release: ABDELBASET ALI MOHMED AL MEGRAHI". Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. p. 13. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
- ↑ "News Release: ABDELBASET ALI MOHMED AL MEGRAHI". Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. p. 1. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.