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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Release bid for Lockerbie bomber | Release bid for Lockerbie bomber |
| (about 8 hours later) | |
| Lawyers for the Lockerbie bomber will appear before the Appeal Court in Edinburgh to ask for him to be freed while his lengthy appeal continues. | Lawyers for the Lockerbie bomber will appear before the Appeal Court in Edinburgh to ask for him to be freed while his lengthy appeal continues. |
| The bid has been given added urgency by recent news that Abdelbaset ali al-Megrahi has advanced prostate cancer. | The bid has been given added urgency by recent news that Abdelbaset ali al-Megrahi has advanced prostate cancer. |
| Megrahi's legal team are due to argue that he should be granted interim liberation. | |
| This would run until a full hearing of his appeal, which is likely to take place in the middle of next year. | This would run until a full hearing of his appeal, which is likely to take place in the middle of next year. |
| It is more than five years since Megrahi's lawyers presented papers to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission claiming his conviction for the murder of 270 people was unsafe. | It is more than five years since Megrahi's lawyers presented papers to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission claiming his conviction for the murder of 270 people was unsafe. |
| That case reached the Appeal Court in June last year and since then has been bogged down by legal arguments. | That case reached the Appeal Court in June last year and since then has been bogged down by legal arguments. |
| In long-running cases such as this, it is common for appellants to apply to be released from jail pending the ultimate decision of the appeal judges. | In long-running cases such as this, it is common for appellants to apply to be released from jail pending the ultimate decision of the appeal judges. |
| But the news last month that the Lockerbie bomber, who is serving his life sentence in Greenock Prison, had advanced prostate cancer which has spread to other parts of his body, has given the moves added urgency. | But the news last month that the Lockerbie bomber, who is serving his life sentence in Greenock Prison, had advanced prostate cancer which has spread to other parts of his body, has given the moves added urgency. |
| None of his advisors would speculate on Megrahi's life-expectancy. | |
| Megrahi is serving a life sentence for the 1988 bombing. | Megrahi is serving a life sentence for the 1988 bombing. |