Lockerbie father says Libyan pushed to drop appeal

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - The father of a British woman killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing accused the government on Tuesday of trying to encourage a Libyan found guilty of the attack to abort an appeal against his conviction.

Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed along with 269 others when a Pan Am airliner blew up over Lockerbie, told Reuters the government was seeking to hasten a prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) with Libya which could allow the convict to return home if he drops his appeal.

Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was convicted under Scottish law in 2001 and given a life sentence for bombing the airliner as it flew from London to New York on December 18, 1988, killing all 259 people on board, including 189 Americans. Eleven residents of the town of Lockerbie were killed by falling wreckage.

Megrahi's lawyers said late last year they hoped to open a second appeal against his conviction on April 28.

But Swire accused Justice Secretary Jack Straw, whose department will oversee ratification of the PTA, of going to "extraordinary" lengths to ensure it is ratified before the appeal starts in a bid to ensure it is dropped.

"(His action) seems designed to make it possible for Megrahi's appeal to be aborted," he said, adding that the appeal would have been a key opportunity for fresh evidence in the case to be examined in public.

A government source told Reuters at the weekend the PTA, which would pave the way for an application for Megrahi's transfer home, may be ratified before the appeal is due to start. "It is being discussed at the moment," the source said.

Tony Kelly, Megrahi's lawyer, told Reuters on Tuesday he had no plans to drop the appeal. "It is going ahead as things stand," he said, refusing to comment further.