The Scottish court in the Netherlands was a special sitting of the

High Court of Justiciary The High Court of Justiciary is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The High Court is both a trial court and a court of appeal. As a trial court, the High Court sits on circuit at Parliament House or in the adjacent former Sheriff Cour ...

set up under

Scots law Scots law () is the legal system of Scotland. It is a hybrid or mixed legal system containing civil law and common law elements, that traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. Together with English law and Northern Ireland ...

in a former

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...

base, Camp Zeist in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

, in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, for the trial of two

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

ns charged with 270 counts of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

in connection with the bombing of

Pan Am Flight 103 Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by ''Clipper Maid of the Seas'', a Boein ...

over

Lockerbie Lockerbie (, gd, Locarbaidh) is a small town in Dumfries and Galloway, south-western Scotland. It is about from Glasgow, and from the border with England. The 2001 Census recorded its population as 4,009. The town came to international atte ...

, Scotland, on 21 December 1988. A school on the former base was converted into a judicial court for the trial.

Neutral country

The court was established in a neutral country as part of a deal between Colonel

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

of Libya and the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

, before Gaddafi would allow the

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

of the two accused.

Special jurisdiction on territory

Under a bilateral

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal per ...

between the United Kingdom and the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

, the premises of the court were, for the duration of the

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...

and any subsequent

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

, under the authority and control of the court. Since the arrangement had been called for by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1192, it was given effect in Scots law by an Order-in-Council under the

United Nations Act 1946 The United Nations Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6 c. 45) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which enables His Majesty's Government to implement resolutions under Article 41 of the United Nations Charter as Orders in Council. Thus Parli ...

. Dutch law still theoretically applied to the area, but, barring an emergency, the Dutch authorities were banned from entering the premises and the court had the authority to enact regulations that superseded Dutch law when necessary for the execution of the trial, and to jail people for

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the cour ...

. The court itself, as well as people involved in the trial (officials of the court, accused, witnesses, solicitors, etc.), also enjoyed total or partial immunity from Dutch law.

Verdict

The court convicted

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi ( ar, عبد الباسط محمد علي المقرحي, ; 1 April 1952 – 20 May 2012) was a Libyan who was head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, director of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Tripoli, ...

of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing on 31 January 2001. The second accused,

Lamin Khalifah Fhimah Lamin Khalifah Fhimah ( ar, الأمين خليفة فحيمة, ''al-Amīn Khalīfah Faḥīmah''; born 4 April 1956) is a former station manager for Libyan Arab Airlines at Luqa Airport, Malta. On 31 January 2001, he was acquitted of 270 cou ...

, was acquitted. Megrahi's appeal was also held at the court (the High Court of Justiciary is the highest

court of appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

in the Scottish criminal justice system), and was rejected on 14 March 2002. The site was then decommissioned and returned to the Dutch government. Megrahi served his sentence at

Greenock prison HMP Greenock is a prison located in Greenock, Scotland, serving designated courts in western Scotland by holding male prisoners on remand, and short-term convicted prisoners. It also provides a national facility for selected prisoners serving 1 ...

Inverclyde Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the hi ...

. From September 2003, Megrahi's conviction was under review by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which reported its findings on 28 June 2007 and granted Megrahi leave for a second appeal against conviction. Diagnosed with prostate cancer and with an estimated three- to six-month life expectancy, Megrahi was released from Greenock prison in August 2009 after serving eight years, through a decision on

compassionate grounds Compassionate release is a process by which inmates in criminal justice systems may be eligible for immediate early release on grounds of "particularly extraordinary or compelling circumstances which could not reasonably have been foreseen by t ...

by the Scottish justice minister, Kenny MacAskill. He returned to Libya, where he died in May 2012.

References

{{coord, 52, 7, 28.87, N, 5, 16, 21.90, E, type:landmark, display=title 2000 establishments in the Netherlands 2001 disestablishments in the Netherlands 2000 in British law 2001 in British law 2000 in Scotland 2001 in Scotland Buildings and structures in Utrecht (province) Pan Am Flight 103 Scottish case law Courts of Scotland Scottish criminal law Defunct organisations based in Scotland High Court of Justiciary Netherlands–United Kingdom relations Netherlands–United States relations Libya–United Kingdom relations Libya–United States relations Libya–Netherlands relations United Kingdom–United States relations Zeist

Neutral country

Special jurisdiction on territory

Verdict

See also

References