Lockerbie bomber family loses appeal to overturn conviction

LONDON – The family of a Libyan man convicted in the Lockerbie bombing has lost an appeal in a court in Scotland to have his conviction overturned posthumously.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was jailed for life in 2001 for his involvement in the attack on Pan Am flight 103, which crashed in Scotland during a flight from London to New York on Dec. 21, 1988. The bombing killed all 259 people aboard the plane and another 11 on the ground.

Al-Megrahi was found guilty of mass murder. The family of the former intelligence officer has long claimed his innocence and plans to appeal to the U.K. Supreme Court.

Al-Megrahi lost one appeal and abandoned another before being freed in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was terminally ill with cancer.

He died in Libya in 2012, still protesting his innocence. His family has sought to overturn the murder conviction, citing concerns about the evidence, including doubts about the timer alleged to have detonated the bomb.