Lockerbie bomber's family refused permission to appeal by Supreme Court
Relatives of the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi are vowing to continue their fight to have his name cleared
The family of the Lockerbie bomber have been refused permission to appeal against his conviction by the Supreme Court.
Lawyers for the family of the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi - the only man to be convicted of the bombing of Pan-Am flight flight 103 in 1988 - had been seeking to overturn a ruling by the High Court.
A total of 270 people were killed in Britain's largest terrorist atrocity when the plane, travelling from London to New York, was brought down over the Dumfries and Galloway town.
Only man ever convicted over the atrocity
Former Libyan intelligence officer Megrahi was found guilty in 2001 of mass murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years.
In January last year, Megrahi's son, Ali al-Megrahi, lost an appeal against his late father's conviction.
The Supreme Court has ruled that permission to appeal against that decision should be refused, saying the "application does not raise an arguable point of law".
Lawyer Aamer Anwar, representing the Megrahi family, insisted this was not the end of the matter as he would take the case back to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) and "continue to pursue an appeal".
Mr Anwar said: "I spoke today to Ali, the son of the late al-Megrahi, and he said he was deeply disappointed in the decision of the UK Supreme Court.
"Ali told me he was eight years old when his father went to the Netherlands to stand trial. When his father returned to Libya to die, Ali spent most of his time next to his father and said that until his dying breath he maintained his innocence.
"The Megrahis regard their father as the 271st victim of Lockerbie."
The latest in a long line of appeals
Megrahi was released from prison in Scotland in 2009 on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, and died in Libya in 2012.
The Libyan had originally lodged an appeal against his conviction in 2007, but this was abandoned in 2009 before he was granted compassionate release.
Mr Anwar said: "Ali said as a son he will not give up on his father's dying wish to clear his name and that of Libya, and has instructed myself as his family's lawyer to continue with a further application to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission."
In March 2020 the SCCRC referred Megrahi's case to the High Court as a possible miscarriage of justice may have occurred.
However, in what was the third appeal against Megrahi's conviction in November 2020, at the High Court in Edinburgh, a panel of five judges rejected the claim.