AN American judge has ruled that relatives of Lockerbie victims, and those affected by the 1988 bombing, will not be able to watch a forthcoming trial from their homes.
Instead they will have to attend hubs, such as American embassies and courthouses, to watch the May proceedings in Washington against alleged bombmaker Abu Masud.
The US Department of Justice had proposed that people directly affected by the attack should be allowed tightly controlled online access to the proceedings.
However, that has now reportedly been rejected by US district judge Dabney Friedrich as she fears footage could be rebroadcast around the world and remain on the internet forever.
As such, she stated it could affect Masud’s right to a fair trial.Her ruling states: “The court recognises that it would be more convenient and less expensive for the Lockerbie bombing victims to access evidentiary and trial proceedings from their homes and offices. But livestreaming such proceedings to individuals’ personal devices is fraught with risks of a constitutional dimension. It is impossible to anticipate the numerous ways in which an inadvertent or intentional unauthorized accessing or rebroadcasting of evidentiary or trial proceedings could prejudice the defendant’s due process rights.
“Because witness testimony and other evidence is admitted in real time in the courtroom, even a single breach of procedure could be incurable. In today’s Internet age, a rebroadcasted court proceeding could travel around the world and remain electronically preserved forever.
“Not only would such a breach jeopardize the defendant’s right to a fair trial, it could also taint any future retrial.”
Therefore, the judge has ruled there should be “designated secure viewing locations,” set up.
No further details have been given on how that could work in the UK, although the nearest American consulate to Lockerbie in Edinburgh.
