Father will pursue Lockerbie appeal

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- The father of a woman killed in the explosion of a Pan Am jet over Scotland says he will pursue the appeal of the man convicted of the bombing if the man dies.

A Scottish appeals court refused to grant bail Friday to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent sentenced to life in prison. Megrahi, 56, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Dr. Jim Swire -- whose daughter, Flora, was 23 when she was killed on the ground in Lockerbie in 1988 -- has come to believe that Megrahi might be the victim of a miscarriage of justice.

"The defense has said there is new evidence and it sounds like pretty potent stuff," Swire said. "We would want to hear this in court."

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission gave Megrahi permission to appeal his conviction a second time. Swire told The Glasgow Herald he has been advised by a lawyer that he can pursue the case if Megrahi dies.

In a letter published Friday in the Herald, Swire urged bail for Megrahi, arguing that if he dies in prison and his conviction is then overturned he would be "a martyr such as even suicide bombers cannot emulate."