The UN appointed special observer to the Lockerbie proceedings and President of the International Progress Organization, Dr Hans Koechler, has established a transnational research network "devoted to issues of the evolving system of international criminal justice and the dangers of politicization of international courts".

In New Delhi, Dr Koechler singled out the ongoing proceedings against Abdelbaset Ali Mohmad Al Megrahi as a case in point.

"The trial reports released by Dr Hans Koechler analyzed the Lockerbie proceedings as an exemplary case where the rule of law is threatened by considerations of international power politics," the IPO said in a statement."

"In the year 2001, Dr Koechler had suspected a miscarriage of justice, an evaluation that was later (in 2007) also expressed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission which referred the case back to the appeal court."

Megrahi's second appeal is presently before the High Court, predominantly focused on the limited grounds the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission elected to identify in their inexplicably narrow referral back to the court.