Verdict in Lockerbie trial due tomorrow

The verdict on two Libyans accused of murdering 270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing will be delivered tomorrow, …

The verdict on two Libyans accused of murdering 270 people in the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing will be delivered tomorrow, according to the judges.

The trial - at a special Scottish court on a former US airbase in the Netherlands - had been adjourned since January 18th when the three-judge panel retired to consider its verdict after 84 days of testimony and lawyers' submissions.

Presiding judge Lord Sutherland said in today's court sitting, which lasted less than a minute: "As we indicated at the time of the last adjournment we are not in a position to issue a verdict today. We are able to inform you, however, that we will be in a position to announce a verdict tomorrow."

The court was adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow.

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Mr Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Mr Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima face life imprisonment in a Glasgow jail if convicted of planting the bomb that destroyed a Pan Am jumbo jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21st 1988.

The judges have three verdicts to choose from for each defendant: guilty, not guilty or not proven. A verdict of not guilty or not proven would be an acquittal.

Reuters