UK to release Lockerbie Bomber. What the Hell is the matter with the UK?

Scotland defies Obama and prepares to send dying Lockerbie bomber home to Libya on Gaddafi's private jet

By NIALL FIRTH Daily Mail
Last updated at 12:27 PM on 20th August 2009

Decision to be announced in Edinburgh at 1pm

• Libyan airline 'collecting a special passenger' from Glasgow
• Obama calls on Megrahi to be made to 'serve out his term'
• Megrahi's wife says bomber is 'very happy' to come home
• Blair accused of 'blood money' deal over bomber's release
• Lawyer says release means Britain 'will grow' in eyes of Arabs

The Scottish Government is to defy the wrath of the U.S administration and the anger of victims' families as it prepares to release the Lockerbie bomber this afternoon.

An announcement about the fate of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi will be made in Edinburgh by the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill at 1pm.

It is widely expected that terminally-ill Megrahi, the only person to be convicted of the December 1988 bombing, will be freed on compassionate grounds.

The 57-year-old, who is dying of prostate cancer, could be flying home to Libya on Gaddafi's own private jet by this evening.

The decision to free the terrorist will spark outrage in America and Britain where the families of those killed have been campaigning for him to remain behind bars.

And his probable release comes despite a desperate last-ditch appeal by Barack Obama yesterday to ensure that the Lockerbie bomber dies in a Scottish prison.

Megrahi's wife Aisha has said her husband still 'didn't know' when he would be freed from Glasgow's Greenock prison, but was 'very happy' at the prospect of returning to his homeland.

The convicted bomber also called his mother in Libya and told her he hoped to be with her by Ramadan.

There has been widespread fury among victims' families over Megrahi's release and the SNP can expect a huge transatlantic outcry if, as is likely, he is granted mercy today.

Yesterday, the U.S. government continued to put last-minute pressure on the Scottish Executive, with a spokesman for Mr Obama insisting Megrahi should 'serve out his term' in Scotland.

But in a thinly-veiled attack on U.S. attempts to influence the decision, First Minister Alex Salmond has insisted 'international power politics' will be ignored.

The transatlantic row comes amid further controversy over the role of former PM Tony Blair in Megrahi's release.

Mr Blair has been accused of agreeing a 'blood money' deal involving the Lockerbie bomber with Colonel Gaddafi just hours before BP unveiled a £500million oil contract.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also issued a personal plea to keep the bomber behind bars.

The former New York Senator said she knew many of the American families who lost relatives in the atrocity and that to release Megrahi would be 'absolutely wrong'.

It is understood that Megrahi will be flown back to Libya on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's private jet if he is released following Mr MacAskill's announcement today.

Today his lawyer Saad Djebbar said that Britain would benefit from Megrahi's release.

'The SNP government has done the UK a great favour because Britain and Scotland will grow in the eyes of the Arab street,' he said.

A 'luxury aircraft' was scheduled to collect the bomber from Glasgow airport yesterday, but the flight was cancelled during protracted negotiations over Megrahi's fate, according to the Times.

Tripoli-based Afriqiyah Airways, which runs Colonel Gaddafi's personal Airbus A340, contacted Glasgow airport yesterday to report that it would be collecting 'a special passenger'.

Megrahi's wife Aisha has said her husband still 'didn't know' when he would be freed from Glasgow's Greenock prison, but was 'very happy' at the prospect of returning to his homeland.

The convicted bomber also called his mother in Libya and told her he hoped to be with her by Ramadan.
Hajja Fatma, 95, told the Tripoli Post in Libya: 'I do not close the house's door at all. I am expecting him to enter at any moment.

'Eleven years I did not spend the holy month of Ramadan with him, I am waiting for that day when he comes back.'

She maintained that her son was innocent of killing 270 people in the Lockerbie bomb, saying 'he would not slaughter a chicken'.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is expected to announce Megrahi's release today while his wife Aisha, left, has said the bomber still does not know what his fate will be

Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence agent, who may have only weeks to live, dropped his second appeal against conviction on Tuesday - removing a legal obstacle to sending him home.

He is serving life with a minimum term of 27 years after being convicted of the attack on Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.

Most of the dead were Americans heading home for Christmas.

Mrs Clinton yesterday said Megrahi's release would be 'inappropriate, and very much against the wishes of the family members of the victims who suffered such grievous losses'.

She added: 'I take this very personally because I knew a lot of the family members of those who were lost.
'I just think it is absolutely wrong to release someone who has been imprisoned based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime.

'We are still encouraging the Scottish authorities not to do so, and hope they will not.'

Later, Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Mr Obama, added: 'It's the policy of this administration that this individual should serve out his term where he's serving it right now.'

Seven U.S. senators, including Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, have also written to Mr MacAskill urging him to keep Megrahi behind bars.

But many British families believe the Libyan was wrongly convicted while in Libya many believe that he was made a scapegoat for the bombings.

Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing, yesterday criticised Mrs Clinton's comments as the 'intervention of ignorance, a voice from the previous regime'.

Mr MacAskill is considering two applications from Megrahi's lawyers - compassionate release or a transfer to a Libyan prison.

While the decision to allow Megrahi to return home will affect relationships between the British Government and the U.S, it is likely it will suit those in Westminster who are happy for the focus to remain firmly on Edinburgh.

Some ministers have expressed concern that evidence that was to be used during Megrahi's appeal, which he withdrew on Tuesday, would have cast some doubt on his conviction.

The SNP's Christine Grahame, who has met Megrahi in prison, said: 'There are vested interests who have been deeply opposed to this appeal continuing as they know it would go a considerable way towards exposing the truth.'

The SNP has always criticised the transfer agreement between the UK and Libya, which was established by former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Critics are suspicious that Mr Blair's deal was part of an attempt to develop closer relations with the former pariah state to protect Britain's oil interests.

Susan Cohen, whose only child Theodora, 20, was killed in the bombing, said: 'Tony Blair has behaved absolutely appallingly. Some people would describe it as blood money.

'He put compassion for the oil industry ahead of any compassion for my daughter, for the families of all those people killed by a convicted mass murderer and terrorist.

'It just shows that the power of oil money counts for more than justice.'

'The Libyan government paid the U.S. relatives £803million in compensation,' she said. 'Afterwards what happens? The U.S. and UK governments pay almost exactly the same amount to allow oil exploration in Libya. There are dirty deals here.'

That option would also require the Lord Advocate to drop an ongoing appeal against the leniency of Megrahi's sentence.

Last night, the Executive said in a statement: 'Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has informed families and other interested parties that he has reached his decisions on the applications for prisoner transfer and compassionate release in relation to Mr Megrahi and will announce his decisions on Thursday, August 20, 2009.

'This fulfils the Justice Secretary's pledge to inform families on both sides of the Atlantic, in advance, of the timing of his public announcement.'

Meanwhile, a cancer specialist yesterday said Megrahi's 'aggressive' form of prostate cancer is no longer responding to treatment.

Professor Karol Sikora, who visited Megrahi in prison, said: 'We believe he has only a very short period of time to live.'

An Executive spokesman said: 'We have a strong justice system in Scotland and people can be assured the Justice Secretary's decisions have been reached on the basis of clear evidence and on no other factors.'