A fresh application for a review of the conviction of the only man found guilty of the Lockerbie bombing is expected to be submitted to authorities in Scotland.
The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) said it expects to receive a request “shortly” for it to look again at the conviction of Libyan Abdelbaset al Megrahi.
Megrahi was the sole person to be found guilty of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland on December 21, 1988, in which 270 people died.
He abandoned a second appeal against conviction in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. He was released from jail on compassionate grounds and died protesting his innocence in 2012.
The new application for the conviction to be reviewed is to be made by Jim Swire on behalf of himself and several others.
Dr Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the bombing, has long held the view that Megrahi was not guilty of the atrocity.
The SCCRC is an independent body set up to review alleged miscarriages of justice.
It can refer a case back to the High Court if it believes a miscarriage of justice may have occurred and that it is in the interests of justice.
When a convicted person has died, court rules allow the High Court to consider an appeal where it considers the person taking the case forward has “legitimate interest” in the issue.
SCCRC chief executive Gerard Sinclair said there are several matters which will affect the timescale for the body to be able to deal with a fresh application.
“The commission will require to consider a number of preliminary matters relating to the application,” he said. “These include whether Dr Swire has a ‘legitimate interest’ to pursue an application to the commission and any subsequent appeal.”
“If it is decided Dr Swire has a ‘legitimate interest’, the commission will also require to address whether it is ‘in the interests of justice’ to accept for a further review the conviction of Mr Megrahi.
“In considering this matter, the commission will be required to address the fact Mr Megrahi abandoned his appeal in 2009 after a referral from the commission and that neither he nor any member of his family lodged an application for a further review prior to his death in 2012.
Megrahi lost his first appeal against his conviction in 2002. The following year, he applied to the SCCRC for a review of his conviction and his case was referred by the commission to the High Court for a new appeal in 2007.
His bid to drop his second appeal against conviction was accepted by judges in August 2009.
A Crown Office spokesman said: “We do not fear scrutiny of the conviction by the SCCRC. The evidence upon which the conviction was based was rigorously scrutinised by the trial and two appeal courts after which Megrahi stands convicted of the terrorist murder of 270 people.
“We will rigorously defend this conviction.”