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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2017
1 See Sean, D. Murphy, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 93 AJIL 174 & 908 (1999).Google Scholar
2 Her Majesty’s Advocate v. Megrahi, No. 1475/99, slip. op. (High Ct. Judiciary at Camp Zeist Jan. 31, 2001), at <http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/html/lockerbie.htm>.
3 Id., para. 4.
4 Id., para. 9.
5 Id., paras. 14-15, 50.
6 Id., para. 10.
7 Id., para. 12.
8 Id., paras. 67-69.
9 Id., paras. 31,82.
10 Id., paras. 28, 34.
11 Id., para. 39.
12 Id., para. 88.
13 Id.
14 Id., para. 42.
15 Entry of the diary into evidence was challenged by the defense on grounds that it had been illegally obtained from Fhimah’s Maltese business partner. See Donald, G. McNeil Jr., Unusual Legal Conflict in Lockerbie Case, N.Y. Times, Sept. 30, 2000, at A6.Google Scholar
16 Her Majesty’s Advocate v. Megrahi, para. 84.
17 Id., para. 85.
18 Prior to the verdict, the prosecution dropped the lesser charges of conspiracy to murder and violation of U.K. aviation law. Id., para. 1; see Finn, Peter, Prosecutor Drops Lesser Counts at Lockerbie Trial, Wash. Post, Jan. 10, 2001, at A15.Google Scholar Under Scottish criminal procedure, a defendant cannot be found guilty of lesser crimes; the prosecution must select the highest crime it thinks it has proved. Further, three verdicts are possible: guilty, not guilty, and not proven. A verdict of “not proven” is an acquittal but signals doubts about the defendant’s innocence.
19 See Finn, Peter, Libyan Convicted of Lockerbie Bombing, Wash.Post, Feb. 1, 2001, at A1 Google Scholar; Donald, G. McNeill Jr., Libyan Convicted by Scottish Court in ‘88 Pan Am Blast, N.Y. Times, Feb. 1, 2001, at A1.Google Scholar
20 See Finn, Peter, Key Lockerbie Witness Testifies, Wash. Post, Sept. 27, 2000, at A1 Google Scholar (stating that the CIA for the first time in its history turned over classified materials to a foreign court); Donald, G. McNeil Jr., Defense in Lockerbie Trial Undermines a Key Witness, N.Y. Times, Sept. 28, 2000, at A3 Google Scholar; Donald, G. McNeil Jr., Loss of Face at Lockerbie, N.Y. Times, Oct. 1, 2000, at 5.Google Scholar
21 Her Majesty’s Advocate v. Megrahi, para. 43.
22 Id., paras. 48-49, 73.
23 Defense counsel reportedly altered their strategy after unsuccessfully pursuing a document from the government of Syria that purportedly would have helped establish the involvement of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the bombing. See Finn, Peter, Defense Lawyers Rest Case in Lockerbie Bombing Trial, Wash. Post, Jan. 9, 2001, at A16.Google Scholar Nevertheless, defense counsel continued to raise the possibility of other origins of the bomb in the course of closing arguments.
24 Her Majesty’s Advocate v. Megrahi, paras. 73–74.
25 Id., paras. 75–80, 82. One of these possibilities involved a twenty-year-old courier for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah. According to a popular documentary called “The Maltese Double Cross,” he was purportedly duped into carrying the bomb onto Pan Am Flight 103. See Donald, G. McNeil Jr., Prosecutors Air Lockerbie Conspiracy Theories, Trying to Undercut Them, N.Y. Times, Nov. 9, 2000, at A12.Google Scholar
26 See Alistair, J. Bonnington, University of Glasgow Criminal Procedure Summary Relating to Lockerbie Case (undated), at <http://www.law.gla.ac.uk/lockerbie/criminalprocsummary.cfm> (visited February 10, 2001).+(visited+February+10,+2001).>Google Scholar
27 See MacFarguhar, Neil, Qaddafi Rants Against the U.S. in a Welcoming After Bomb Trial, N.Y. Times, Feb. 2, 2001, at A1 Google Scholar; Schneider, Howard, Gaddafi Dissects Lockerbie Decision, Wash. Post, Feb. 6, 2001, at A14.Google Scholar
28 See White House Press Release, Statement by the Press Secretary (Jan. 31, 2001), at <http://www.whitehouse.gov>; see also U.S. Dep’t of State, Daily Press Briefing at 1-2 (Jan. 31, 2001), at <http://www.state.gov>.
