Al-Megrahi was wrongfully convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. His photograph was falsely represented to have been identified by a single witness, a Maltese clothing shop proprietor, as bearing a resemblance to a customer who visited his shop. The recollections of the same eyewitness were altered in such a way as to falsely posit al-Megrahi as the purchaser of items matching those found amidst aircraft wreckage at Lockerbie.

In court, the eyewitness was presented as credible despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, while the defence failed to make clear that al-Megrahi had plainly been the subject of mistaken identity.