A Libyan secret agent, who turned to a CIA informer as a prosecution witness in the Lockerbie trial, is now due to take the stand on Monday, the court was told Wednesday.
Abdul Majid Giaka, 40, living in the United States under witness protection after defecting in 1991 from Libyan regime, had been expected to give evidence Wednesday in the trial of two Libyans accused of bombing an airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.
But prosecutor Alastair Campbell told the Scottish court in the Netherlands that Majid would appear Monday, allowing time for defense lawyers to study uncensored versions of CIA cables from Malta.
Majid was expected to testify that he saw the accused -- Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, 48, and Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, 44 -- in Malta on December 21st, 1988 when a bomb hidden in a suitcase was put on a Maltese airliner, tagged for transfer in Frankfurt onto Pan Am Flight 103.
The Boeing 747, bound for New York via London Heathrow airport, exploded later that day over Lockerbie, killing all 259 people on board plus 11 residents of the small market town.
When the trial resumed Tuesday after a summer break, defense lawyers won a court motion for prosecutors to ask the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for unexpurgated versions of 25 cables entered into evidence.
Campbell said "good progress was made" in talks late Wednesday with CIA officials, and he hoped the revised cables, seen by two prosecutors in June, would be available for the defense as early as Thursday -- CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
