Lawyers for two Libyans charged with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Wednesday of withholding information vital to the case.
"The CIA has withheld from the Crown (prosecutors) and the defense material relevant to the case," defense lawyer Richard Keen told the special Scottish court hearing the marathon murder trial in the Netherlands.
Keen accused the CIA of using in an undue manner the concept of "national security" to withhold information on Libyan defector Abdul Majid Giaka, who is expected to testify next Tuesday against the accused.
Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah have pleaded not guilty to planting the bomb that blew Pan American Flight 103 out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people.
The trial, which began in May, resumed Thursday after a three-week break during which the CIA released -- at the court's behest -- an additional 36 internal cables relating to Majid, on top of 25 previously submitted.
One of the new cables, written by CIA operatives, states that Fhimah was not a "staff member" of the Libyan intelligence agency ESO -- contrary to what is alleged in the indictment against the co-accused -- CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands (AFP)
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