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SLUG: 2-310174 Lockerbie Sentence (S)
DATE: NOTE NUMBER: |
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DATE=11/24/2003 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=LOCKERBIE-SENTENCE (S) NUMBER=2-310174 BYLINE=TOM RIVERS DATELINE=LONDON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A Scottish court has ruled that a Libyan national convicted for his role in the 1988 bombing a of U-S airliner, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, will have to spend at least 27 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. Tom Rivers reports from London. TEXT: Under European human-rights laws, those serving life sentences must be told exactly how long they must serve before they can apply for parole. Under these guidelines, a three-judge Scottish panel has decided al-Megrahi, who was sentenced to life in prison in January 2001, will have to serve 27 years of his sentence before he can apply for parole. Presiding judge Lord Ranald Sutherland, who announced the court's decision, said al-Megrahi's crime was a wicked act carried out in the full knowledge that the plan, if successful, would result in the slaughter of many entirely innocent persons. Al-Megrahi, who is 51 years old, was tried by a specially appointed court in the Netherlands nearly three-years ago. In 1988, Pan Am flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Kathleen Flynn, a mother of one of the victims, says the 27-year minimum sentence is not strong enough. /// FLYNN ACT /// We are not vindictive people; we are looking for justice. /// END ACT/// Al-Megrahi maintains his innocence. (SIGNED) NEB/TR/MAR/RAE |
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