Bomber's appeal

Should the Lockerbie bomber's appeal succeed? The UK Times presents the cases for an against:

CASE FOR: ROBERT BLACK QC: He ought never to have been convicted on the evidence led at the trial. There were two crucial findings that were absolutely crucial to the guilty verdict. Both were contrary to the weight of the evidence.

The first finding was that al-Megrahi was the purchaser in Malta of items that were in the suitcase that contained the bomb. The most that the Maltese shopkeeper, Tony Gauci, would say was that al-Megrahi “resembled a lot” the purchaser, a phrase which he equally used with reference to Abu Talb, one of those mentioned in the special defence of incrimination lodged on behalf of al-Megrahi.

The second crucial finding was that the purchases were made on 7 December 1988, a date when al-Megrahi was proved to be in Malta (and not on 23 November, when he was not). These are findings that no reasonable tribunal could have made on the evidence before it...