Court 'order' over CIA documents

Parts of the CIA messages have been blanked out

The Lockerbie trial prosecution has been ordered to use "their best endeavours" to gain access to the full text of intelligence documents for the defence.

Presiding Judge Lord Sutherland told Lord Advocate Colin Boyd, Scotland's chief prosecutor, to try to persuade the United States to let the defence see the evidence.

The defence believes the transcripts of CIA cable communications could be vital to their case.

It has emerged that the Crown has already had access to almost the full text.

Inside the Zeist courtroom

Bill Taylor QC, for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, claimed he should be able to see the complete versions of the 25 cable messages which dealt with CIA operatives' interviews of Libyan defector, Abdul Majid Giaka.

The plea was made as the trial resumed at the Scottish Court in the Netherlands after a three-week summer recess.

The Lord Advocate said the editing of CIA documents, relating to interviews between 10 August 1988 and 31 August 1989, had not removed information which would be relevant to the defence.

The editing, which was carried out by the CIA itself, was said to be necessary to protect American national security and the safety of the individuals involved.

Mr Giaka, is expected to take the stand this week as a key witness.

He now lives in the US under the federal witness protection programme.

'Vital' for cross-examination

He has asked to be hidden from the court by screens and electronic voice distortion.

Mr Taylor showed the court copies of the documents as provided to the defence.

Trial details

The two accused are Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 48, and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December, 1988, killing all 259 people on board and another 11 on the ground

The two men deny three charges - murder, conspiracy to murder and a breach of the 1982 Aviation Security Act

The trial is taking place in a Scottish courtroom at Camp Zeist, in the Netherlands

The case is being heard by three Scottish judges

Large segments of text were blacked out by the CIA officers.

He said: "It is vital to the securing of a fair trial for these accused that the defence is not disadvantaged vis-a-vis the Crown when Giaka is cross-examined."

Mr Taylor noted that prosecutors had been allowed to view the full text of the cables.

"I emphatically do not accept that what lies behind that blanked out sections is of no interest to a cross-examiner," added Mr Taylor.

He rejected what he said were prosecutors' previous assurances that the deleted material had no relevance to the defence case.

According to the indictment, the defendants sent the suitcase bomb onto a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany, where it was transferred as unaccompanied luggage onto a feeder flight connecting with Flight 103 in London.

Witness link

Mr Giaka is considered the closest thing the prosecutors have to an eyewitness who can directly link the defendants to the crime.

Prosecutors expect to complete their evidence in September, handing the floor to the defence team, whose case is expected to last several months.

The trial began on 3 May in a special Scottish courthouse at Camp Zeist, the former US air base in the Netherlands.

The court heard in July that about 60 people would no longer be asked to take the witness stand.

It was also confirmed that a number of Federal Bureau of Investigation agents would not now be required.