Waiting ends as trial begins

The accused were dressed in white robes

The first day of the Lockerbie bombing trial has marked the end of a long wait - both for relatives of the 270 victims and the two Libyans accused of the atrocity.

It was in November 1991 that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 48, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44, were charged with blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie.

But it was not until April last year that they were handed over to the authorities for trial.

The legal agreement - brokered by South Africa's President Nelson Mandela - was unprecedented.

A tense time for the victims' relatives

The hearing would take place under Scottish law, with three Scottish judges in the neutral venue of the former air base of Camp Zeist in the Netherlands.

Those carefully negotiated arrangements came into practice on 3 May when the trial got under way.

At 0945BST the two accused - in traditional white gowns and black caps - were brought into the special high-security court amid a buzz of anticipation.

For some of the relatives there was a sense of theatre and the majesty of a grand Scottish court occasion.

Flanked by Scottish police officers, they put on headphones to hear an Arabic interpretation of the English-speaking proceedings.

Their facial expressions gave little away.

Mr Fhimah sat virtually motionless, Mr Megrahi fiddled with his headphones and adjusted his glasses knowing that these new surroundings would become a kind of home over the next 12 months.

Scottish law

Members of the court rose when the judges, wearing white wigs and dressed in flowing ivory robes with embroidered red crosses, were led into the chamber by a sentry bearing a silver mace.

They took their seats on the bench underneath a Scottish royal crest bearing the Latin words: "Nemo me impune lacessit," which means "None dare meddle with me".

The accused have waited almost a decade to have their day in court.

Relatives' spokesman Dr Jim Swire enters court

The waiting game is also over for the relatives of the Lockerbie tragedy.

The majority on board the doomed New York-bound flight were Americans going home for Christmas.

Many of their family members had travelled to the Netherlands for the first court session.

Separated from the main court room by bullet proof glass, around 40 relatives and friends were seated at the front of the public gallery.

They watched in silence as Mr Fhimah and Mr Megrahi were led into court and seated just feet from them.

Accused men's children

An American relative of one of the dead observed afterwards: "They appeared to be cool and unflustered."

Many other family members were watching via closed-circuit television links to Washington, New York, London and Dumfries in Scotland.

Also in court were several of the accused men's relatives including their daughters and Mr Fhimah's 15-year-old son, uncle and father.

The enormity of what lay ahead was encapsulated in the reading of the indictment.

The court clerk began in a measured unemotional voice to list the alleged offences of murder, conspiracy to murder and breaching the Aviation Act. The whole process took 20 minutes.

Technical difficulties

The accused sat quietly, listening intently through their headphones.

From time to time they glanced across the court, but were also able to view what was happening on large television screens built into the dock.

Proceedings began smoothly but the makeshift court was soon tested, not through legal argument but through technological difficulties.

Shortly after the indictment had been read, the two men had pleaded not guilty, and the first witness had taken the stand.

But an electronic fault disabled the interpreters' system.

The judges decided to adjourn for an early lunch and once again the accused and the Lockerbie victims' families were left to wait - something they have become used to over the last 11 years.