Both Lockerbie decisions were unanimous

A Scottish court today convicted Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi of murder in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie that killed 270 people.

His co-accused Lamen Khgalifa Fhimah was found not guilty by the Scottish court in the Netherlands.

Both decisions were unanimous, judge Lord Ranald Sutherland said.

The verdict of the Scottish tribunal was the climax in the 12-year murder investigation and an £56 million trial.

The verdict comes after nearly nine months of hearings at the special court at Camp Zeist.

Even before the verdict was announced, relatives of the victims said they will pursue the case.

‘‘There are many unanswered questions about who ordered this vile act and why our relatives were not protected,’’ said Jim Swire, a spokesman for the British relatives who lost his daughter on Pan Am Flight 103.

Swire said the British relatives will seek a public inquiry on how the British Government and intelligence services handled the Lockerbie affair.

Prosecutors said the two men conspired to smuggle a bomb-laden suitcase onto a flight from Malta, tagging it for transfer in Frankfurt, Germany, and then to the doomed jetliner in London.

When a small package of plastic explosives detonated at 31,000 feet, the aircraft was ripped apart, sending 259 passengers and crew to their deaths.

Another 11 were killed on the ground in Lockerbie by falling wreckage.