DATE=8/22/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LOCKERBIE TRIAL (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-265747
BYLINE=RON PEMSTEIN
DATELINE=ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO:  The trial of two Libyan suspects for the 1988 
bombing of an American jetliner over Lockerbie, 
Scotland, has resumed in the Netherlands after a one-
month break.  V-O-A's Ron Pemstein reports from Zeist, 
in central Holland, that the first day of the resumed 
trial was bogged down in a procedural dispute 
involving a Libyan defector and documents from the U-S 
Central Intelligence Agency

TEXT:  In August of 1988, Abdul Majid, also known as 
"Ghaka," offered his services to C-I-A agents working 
in Malta.  He said he was a Libyan intelligence 
officer working there for Libyan Airways.  And 
observers say he is likely to have crucial information 
about the activities of the two Libyans on trial here 
for the bombing of Pan Am flight 1-0-3 in December 
1988.

The two are charged with putting a bomb in a cassette 
recorder inside a suitcase in Malta that was 
transferred to the Pan Am airplane in Frankfurt, 
Germany.  The bomb exploded after the airplane left 
London on a flight to New York.  The explosion killed 
259 people aboard the plane and 11 more on the ground 
in Lockerbie, Scotland.

Mr. Majid is now living under a U-S witness protection 
program and is expected to testify here against the 
two suspects, Abdul Baset Ali Al-Megrahi and Al Amin 
Khalifa Phimah.  Mr. Majid's testimony will be 
supported by 25 C-I-A cables about him -- although the 
documents have been heavily edited by the agency.

The defense did  not  object to the cables being 
introduced into evidence on the understanding that the 
prosecution also did  not  know what was contained in 
the edited portions.  But, when the trial resumed 
Tuesday, Mr. Megrahi's lawyer said he had just been 
informed that the C-I-A had allowed the prosecution to 
see an unedited copy of the documents two months ago, 
after this trial was already under way.

The lawyer, Bill Taylor, told the court this advantage 
was  not  fair to the defense.  He also said he could  
not  accept the prosecution's argument that the edited 
portions of the C-I-A documents either protect the 
agency's sources and methods or are  not  relevant to 
the Lockerbie bombing.

The prosecutor accuses the defense lawyers of 
launching what he calls a "fishing expedition" for 
information to damage the credibility of Mr. Majid.  
He reminded the court it has  no  power to order the 
C-I-A to produce unedited documents.

The Scottish judges agreed with the defense that it is 
entitled to same information as the prosecution.  And, 
they asked the prosecution to make its best endeavors 
to obtain better information from the C-I-A.  Three C-
I-A officers familiar with Mr. Majid's activities will 
testify here using false names.

Thanks to arguments about Mr. Majid and other 
procedural matters, the first day of the trial after a 
summer recess heard from  no  witnesses at all. 
(Signed)

NEB/RDP/JWH/FC



22-Aug-2000 13:11 PM EDT (22-Aug-2000 1711 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.