Defence asks for "not guilty" verdict in Lockerbie trial

William Taylor QC, representing defendant Abdel-Basit al-Mikrahi, 48, said the prosecution's case against his client was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. Concluding four days of argument, Taylor said the prosecution had failed to prove that al-Mikrahi and al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, were responsible for the deaths of 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988.

After Taylor had concluded, his colleague Richard Keen QC began arguments on behalf of Fhimah. The prosecution, which closed its case last week, holds that the evidence against the defendants left no doubt about their guilt and has asked the court to convict them of murder.

The defence has denied from the start of the trial, last May, that al-Mikrahi and Fhimah had anything to do with the bombing. Both deny charges of murder. The defence believes that Palestinian terrorists were behind the attack. The Scottish court that is hearing the case in Camp Zeist, Netherlands, is to announce a verdict at the earliest a week after the concluding arguments, according to informed sources.

(la/dpa)