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| - The family of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Mohmet Al-Megrahi on Tuesday said they hoped a posthumous appeal in Scotland can overturn his conviction more than 30 years after the airborne atrocity. Five judges including Scotland's most senior jurist, Lord Justice General Colin Sutherland, are hearing the case at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh this week. The legal team for the Libyan-born Megrahi's family are taking part remotely from Glasgow. The case is due to last until Friday with a ruling at a later date. Before the hearing, the family said in a statement the reputation of Scottish criminal justice was on the line because of widespread doubts about Megrahi's conviction. But a successful appeal would vindicate their belief the US and UK governments had "lived a monumental lie for 31 years" by imprisoning an innocent man and punishing the people of Libya. Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie as it flew from London to New York on December 21, 1988. A total of 270 people from 21 countries were killed -- including 11 people on the ground -- in what remains Britain's worst terrorist attack. Three Scottish judges sitting at a special court in the Netherlands jailed Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, for life in 2001, recommending he serve at least 27 years. He was the only person convicted of bombing the jumbo jet, and maintained his innocence until his death in 2012. Lawyer Aamer Anwar said he had spoken to Megrahi's son, Ali, who was eight years old when his father stood trial. "The Megrahis regard their father as the 271st victim of Lockerbie," he said. "Finally there is hope that we are coming to the end of a very long journey in nearly 32 years of their struggle for truth and justice." Megrahi's first appeal was dismissed in 2002 but he was released in 2009 after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He returned to Libya, where he died in Tripoli three years later. His family's appeal was referred to the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) in March. The SCCRC ruled a possible miscarriage of justice may have occurred on the grounds of an "unreasonable verdict", in that it could not be proved Megrahi bought the suitcase containing the bomb that was loaded onto the Pan Am flight. It also highlighted "non-disclosure" of evidence to Megrahi's defence team. It has been widely claimed that the bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by a Syrian-based Palestinian group, in retaliation for a US Navy strike on an Iranian Airbus six months earlier in which 290 people died. Late last Friday, the High Court upheld a secrecy order signed in August by UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab to withhold intelligence documents related to the case, on grounds of national security. The documents are thought to allege a Jordanian intelligence agent within the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) built the bomb. The PFLP-GC has been designated a proscribed terrorist group by several countries, including Britain and the United States. Lawyers acting for the Megrahi family believe the documents are central to their appeal, which is backed by some of the victims' families. They also said they would disclose "significant material about the role of individuals, nations and their politicians" at the end of the appeal. "There can never be a time limit on justice or the truth emerging," said Anwar. In 2008, then-foreign secretary David Miliband also refused to release the papers before Megrahi's second appeal, which was started in 2007 but abandoned after the Libyan's cancer diagnosis. srg-phz/jit/pma
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