In The Applications In The Appeal Against Conviction Following Upon A Reference From The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission By The Representative Of The Late Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Megrahi Against Her Majesty’s Advocate And The Advocate General
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lord Woolman,Lord Menzies,Lord Justice General |
| Neutral Citation | [2020] HCJAC 54 |
| Court | High Court of Justiciary |
| Date | 20 November 2020 |
| Docket Number | HCA/2020/5/XM |
| Published date | 20 November 2020 |
APPEAL COURT, HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY
[2020] HCJAC 54
HCA/2020/5/XM
Lord Justice General
Lord Menzies
Lord Woolman
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by LORD CARLOWAY, the LORD JUSTICE GENERAL
in the applications in the appeal against conviction following upon a Reference from the
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission
by
THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE LATE ABDELBASET ALI MOHAMED MEGRAHI
Appellant
against
HER MAJESTY’S ADVOCATE
Respondent
and
THE ADVOCATE GENERAL
Haver
____________________
Haver: Duguid QC; the Office of the Advocate General
Respondent: Clancy QC, AD; the Crown Agent
Special Counsel for the Appellant: Dewar QC
20 November 2020
Introduction
[1] This is a sequel to the Opinion of the Court dated 26 August 2020 ([2020] HCJAC 39)
which allowed the appellant to found his appeal on certain matters, but not others,
2
concerning the disclosure of documents, which had not been referred to the Court by the
SCCRC. It ordered the production to the court of two protectively marked documents in
respect of which a public interest immunity certificate had been issued by the Secretary of
State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in 2008. A new certificate from that Officer of
State was issued on 17 August 2020. The court continued the appellant’s application to
allow the two PMDs to form part of that ground of his Note of Appeal which is based on
non-disclosure. Part C of the Note refers to these documents and the appellant’s contention
that they refer to the possibility of other parties having timers of the type used in the
explosion. In the event of disclosure, the appellant would consider a ground of appeal
based on the bad faith of the Crown and “abuse of process”.
[2] The primary question for the court at this stage is whether to order recovery by the
appellant of the two PMDs, notwithstanding the terms of the PII.
The Trial
[3] During the trial, the court had considered evidence relating to the source of the
MEBO MST-13 timer, which was found to have been used in the detonation of the bomb
within a Toshiba radio cassette recorder. This timer had been one of a batch which had been
delivered by MEBO (Messrs Meister and Bollier) to the Libyan Jamahariya Security
Organisation, in which Mr Megrahi held the position of head of airline security. MEBO had
leased part of their offices in Zurich to a firm, in which Mr Megrahi was a principal. The
court said:
“[49] … we cannot exclude the possibility that other MST-13 timers may have been
made by MEBO and supplied to other parties, but there is no positive evidence that
they were. Equally, despite the evidence of Mr Wenzel that after the fall of the Berlin
wall he had destroyed all timers supplied to the Stasi, we are unable to exclude the
possibility that any MST-13 timers in the hands of the Stasi left their possession,
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2 cases
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Appeal Against Conviction Following Upon A Reference From The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission By The Representative Of Hte Late Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi Against Her Majesty's Advocate
...the PMDs, the court agreed and declined to override the PII certificate for the reasons given in its opinion of 20 November 2020 ([2020] HCJAC 54). [5] The appeal in its current form encompasses the two grounds which were referred to the court by the SCCRC. The court did not permit the incl......
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The Representative Of The Late Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed Al Megrahi Against (first) Her Majesty’s Advocate; And (second) Her Majesty’s Advocate General
...disclosure of two documents which were the subject of a Public Interest Immunity Certificate. In its Opinion (No 2) of 20 November 2020 ([2020] HCJAC 54), the court balanced the public interest with the fairness of the proceedings in terms of Al Rawi v Security Service [2012] 1 AC 531. It a......
1 books & journal articles
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The Lockerbie Aircraft Bombing Case and the Final Appeal
...(21 August 2020)).27. Al Megrahi v HM Advocate, [2020] HCJAC 39, [32].28. Al Megrahi v HM Advocate and the Advocate General (No 2) [2020] HCJAC 54, [2] (20 November 2020). As the outcome isunremarkable, the debate on issues has not been considered fully here.29. Al Megrahi v HM Advocate and......