Lockerbie Bomber May Get Conviction Overturned

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, may get a new trial if a previously secret document is released to the public:

Legal discussions about a potentially crucial top secret document that could help clear the Lockerbie bomber should be heard in private, the appeal court in Edinburgh was told Tuesday.
Britain's top legal officer in Scotland, Advocate General Neil Davidson, told three judges in the case that they should discuss whether the document should be made public behind closed doors and with specially-vetted lawyers.

Al-Megrahi's lawyers want the document released to the public. It's unclear why they wouldn't agree to the private session.

The document most likely concerns allegations about the timing device authorities believe was used in the bombing. The timer, called an MST-13 was produced by the Swiss company Mebo Telecommunications. Twenty were sold to the Libyans in 1985. These aren't egg timers. They're specifically designed to serve in Improvised Explosive Devices. There are allegations that one of the devices, or parts of one, were supplied to an investigator of the Lockerbie terrorist attack, with the implication that it was used to fake evidence of al-Megrahi's involvement.

Mebo is also alleged to have supplied the the East German intelligence agency Stasi with their products.

257 people died when Pan Am 103 went down, including 11 people on the ground in Scotland.