A former Libyan intelligence agent serving a life sentence for the 1988 airliner bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, should be allowed to appeal his conviction, a Scottish judicial panel said Thursday.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission has recommended Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, shown heading into court in 1992, be allowed to appeal his conviction.
(Jockel Fink/Associated Press)

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was the only person convicted for the  bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that killed 259 people on the plane, including two Canadians, and 11 people on the ground.

But a report from a Scottish commission investigating the case against al-Megrahi has recommended he be allowed to appeal his conviction.

"The commission is of the view, based upon our lengthy investigations, new evidence we have found and other evidence which was not before the trial court, that the applicant may have suffered a miscarriage of justice," the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said in a statement summarizing its 800-page report.

The commission — an independent body that investigates possible miscarriages of justice — has spent three years probing the case.

The Court of Appeal in Edinburgh must now consider the report and decide whether to hear an appeal.

Al-Megrahi, who was convicted in 2001, has always maintained his innocence. His lawyers argue that during the investigation, British and American officials ignored witness statements and interfered with evidence suggesting the bombing was an Iranian-financed plot carried out by Palestinians.

Scapegoat allegations

They contend Tehran hatched the plot as revenge for the shooting down of a civilian Iranian airliner by the U.S. military several months earlier.

At the time, Iran offered a $10 million reward for anyone who could avenge the attack. There was much speculation a Syrian-based Palestinian group took up the offer and carried out the bombing.

But the investigation veered away from the Palestinians and shifted to Libya, leading some to speculate it was politically motivated because Washington needed the support of Syria and Iran during Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the bombing, said he and many international legal observers believe al-Megrahi was framed.

"I've been very sad over the years … to hear Scotland's international reputation dragged through the mud over this," he said. "Nobody in international law seems to believe that this verdict should have been reached on this evidence."

The flight exploded around 7 p.m. local time on Dec. 21, 1988 in the skies above the Scottish town of Lockerbie. It had been late leaving London's Heathrow airport on route to New York.

Eleven people in the town were killed when the plane's fuel-laden wing section fell onto a residential area and exploded into a massive fireball.

In 2003, the Libyan government agreed to pay $270 million US in compensation to families of the Lockerbie victims, under a deal which paved the way for the lifting of UN sanctions against Moammar Gadhafi's  administration. But Libyan authorities have never formally admitted guilt.