[JURIST] Defense lawyers representing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi [CNN profile], the only person convicted in the 1998 bombing of a Pan Am flight 103 [Wikipedia backgrounder] over Lockerbie, Scotland, Thursday requested access to evidence not previously provided to them that they claim could be used to clear al-Megrahi. Specifically, they are seeking disclosure of a "missing document" which allegedly contains information about the timer used to bomb Pan Am flight 103. Prosecuting counsel Ronnie Clancy did not disclose the origin of the document Thursday, but confirmed that it was not provided to prosecutors by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website]. Clancy requested six weeks to prepare a response to the defense's information request.

The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) [official website] granted an appeal [JURIST report] in al-Megrahi's case in June and referred it to Scotland's High Court of the Judiciary [official website] after the commission identified six grounds [press release, PDF] for a possible "miscarriage of justice" in Megrahi's trial and conviction. In 2003, Libya agreed to accept responsibility [US DOS press release] for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and compensate the victims' families. Reuters has more.