CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands, March 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Libya and Arab lawyers Thursday, March 14, attacked the upholding of a life sentence on a Libyan agent for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing, news agencies reported.

For its part, Libya condemned the decision as a "political verdict" handed down under pressure from Washington and London. 

Arab lawyers were also quick to condemn the Scottish court decision to reject an appeal by the Libyan agent convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

Scotland's most senior judge, Lord Justice General Lord Cullen, read out the decision, which took less than three minutes to deliver. 

He said: "For the reasons given in the judgment, in which we all concur, we have concluded that none of the grounds of appeal is well founded. "The appeal will accordingly be refused," BBC’s online news service reported.

The court Thursday upheld the murder conviction and life sentence passed a year ago on Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, 49.

However, Saber Ammar, assistant secretary general of the Cairo-based Union of Arab Lawyers, who was present in court, said: "This is only a political trial aimed at convicting the Libyan political system," reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He added: "This should be the end of these political theatrical approaches and Arab rulers should not accept any trial of Arab citizens outside the Arab world," a clear reference to Al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo.

Ammar was backed by Hafid Jhola, president of the Libyan bar association, who denounced what he called political influence by the United States over the court.

Jhola added that al-Megrahi was being allowed a one-hour visit by his wife before he was taken to Scotland to serve his sentence, probably in a matter of hours.

Meanwhile, in an interview published shortly after his conviction, al-Megrahi denied he was responsible for the bombing. 

He told Arabic daily newspaper, Asharq Al-Awsat, "God is my witness that I am innocent, I have never committed any crime and I have no connection to this issue. "I swear to God that I have never seen any suitcase, nor did I put any suitcase (on the plane)." 

Al-Megrahi showed no emotion as he heard the outcome from the five judges at a special Scottish Court in the Netherlands. He was jailed for life in January 2001 for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie in December 1988, leading to the deaths of 270 people. 

Al-Megrahi's wife burst into tears while relatives of those who died expressed their relief at the ruling.

He lodged grounds for his appeal a week after the guilty verdict, which followed an 84-day trial under Scottish law at Camp Zeist in Holland. Al-Megrahi's defense team asked the appeal judges to declare his conviction a "miscarriage of justice".

The 14-day appeal hearing made Scottish legal history by being broadcast live on television and the internet. 

Bill Taylor, QC, defending Al-Megrahi, argued that new evidence presented to the appeal pointed to an injustice. 

He said it raised the possibility that the bomb had been placed on board the aircraft at Heathrow and not in Malta, as the trial judges had concluded. 

However, Alan Turnbull QC, for the prosecution, said the new evidence was weak and flawed, and did not affect the original case.