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Scottish Appeals Court Upholds Conviction of Former Libyan Intelligence Agent in Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103

Aired March 14, 2002 - 10:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A Scottish appeals court has upheld the conviction of a former Libyan intelligence agent in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103. The ruling by the five-judge court was unanimous.

Joining us now to talk more about it is CNN's Chris Burns from Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

Good morning.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredricka.

What you see over my shoulder is the court. It used to actually be a basketball court at a U.S. military base. It was refurbished into that court, where the drama occurred today, where the court decided that the appeal by the lawyers of Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi was not founded. The lawyers said that he was convicted a year ago by the court who decided that he was the one who was a Libyan secret service agent who bought the clothes in the island of Malta that were wrapped around the bomb that went off inside Pan Am 103, killing 259 over the skies of Lockerbie, Scotland.

Most of these people were Americans, as well as 11 people on the ground. It was the worst disaster. It was the starkest symbol of air terrorism before September 11th.

The arguments by the defense were that the man who identified Al- Megrahi at the shop was not 100 percent sure he was that man. The other argument by the defense was that there was new evidence a security guard over at Heathrow, London, Heathrow Airport, said there was a break-in the night before the Pan Am flight 103. Somebody broke into the area where the luggage was to be loaded on to the plane. That, the defense says, was another piece of circumstantial evidence, saying that they really should revisit this case and throw it out, but the five-judge panel came back today, and this is what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE LORD CULLEN, SCOTTISH COURT: We have concluded that none of the grounds of appeal is well founded. The appeal will accordingly be refused. This brings proceedings to an end. The court will now rise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: Al-Megrahi will be flown to Scotland later today, where he'll begin serving the first 20 years, at least 20 years, of a lifetime term. This also, however, paves the way perhaps for the rehabilitation of Libya, and big oil trade with the Americans and the Europeans -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much. Chris Burns from Camp Zeist this morning.

Two-hundred and seventy people died in the Pan Am flight 103, as Chris said. Rosemary Wolfe's stepdaughter, Miriam, was among those who lost their lives.

She joins us now to talk about her reaction to the verdict.

Good morning.

ROSEMARY WOLFE, STEPMOTHER OF BOMBING VICTIM: Good morning.

WHITFIELD: Well, you know, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says he that hopes this decision will finally give the loved ones the survivors of those who were killed in this plane crash a moment of closure, will give them some comfort. What is this decision giving you?

WOLFE: I don't think there is really ever closure. I'm happy that the verdict was upheld and I'm relieved. But the situation now is of extreme importance for Gadhafi to accept responsibility, and to -- not only for himself, but for the Libyan officials who were involved in this, and for us, we want to assure that he go before the U.N. and make that statement of responsibility, and also, make a statement proving that he has renounced terrorism.

WHITFIELD: Well before this decision, how worried were you that possibly Al-Megrahi's conviction might be overturned when the appellant process began?

WOLFE: Well, at the beginning, I wasn't too concerned, but as I went through the trial, I did have some concern. But ultimately, I knew that the evidence was strong, and I was hopeful that the judges would come up with a verdict that they did today.

WHITFIELD: You said this decision doesn't necessarily bring any comfort. But you know, in what way might the family members here in this states -- this plane taken off from Heathrow and was on its way -- it was New York bound. Of the families here in the states, how closely do you believe most family members watching this case, or is that much more painful to kind of relive this all over again by listening to the developments of this appellate process.

WHITFIELD: It is painful to relive it, but it's something that we have to do, because this was about bringing some measure of justice. We don't have full justice here. We only have 1 percent of the story. The important thing is that Al-Megrahi was identified as the member of the Libyan intelligence operation, and that ties him directly to Gadhafi. So that does bring some sense of comfort.

But as far as closure, you never have closure over losing a loved one, because your life has changed forever. And for many of us, we would like to get the rest of the truth as to who was involved and exactly what happened.

And, Rosemary, for you and perhaps other family members, too, just when you thought that perhaps you were kind of on the road to a recovery, so to speak, take me back to when 9-11 took place, how much did that end up kind of forcing all of you to relive once again what you had been going through?

WOLFE: It was one of the hardest days that I think I've gone through since December 21st. It was absolutely shattering, because so many of us had worked over the years to try to never have this happen again and to get airline security to the point where this couldn't happen. There was thing put in place that shouldn't have allowed it to happen, but it happened anyway. And I was really overwhelmed.

WHITFIELD: All right, Thanks very much, Rosemary Wolfe, for having to talk with us about this, and I appreciate your feedback on this.

Thanks very much joining us.

WOLFE: Thank you.

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