Lockerbie trial ends with one guilty verdict and one acquittal

The court was then adjourned until Wednesday afternoon when the sentence against al-Mikrahi, 48, was to be announced. Fhimah, 44, was immediately freed.

Under Scottish law a murder verdict carries a life sentence. The trial was heard before a Scottish court in Camp Zeist, Netherlands.
br> The two Libyans had been on trial since last May on charges of smuggling a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, with the loss of 270 lives.

The presiding judge Lord Ranald Sutherland confirmed that both verdicts had been adopted unanimously.

Bill Taylor QC, defending al-Mikrahi, said his client insisted he was not guilty. This was why he did not plead mitigating circumstances.

(kil/dpa)