Lockerbie convict could go to Libya

April 30, 2009|Associated Press

LONDON - Britain's government ratified a prisoner transfer deal with Libya yesterday that could allow the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing to serve out the remainder of his sentence in the North African country.

The deal, signed in November, would allow Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, to apply to be transferred to Libya, the Foreign Office said.

But Megrahi would have to agree to drop the appeal against his conviction before being eligible for transfer. Scottish government officials would also have to approve the move.

It wasn't immediately clear whether Megrahi, who has repeatedly vowed to clear his name, would seek to take up the opportunity.

The former Libyan secret agent is terminally ill with prostate cancer.

A message left with Megrahi's Edinburgh-based lawyer, Margaret Scott, was not immediately returned.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said ministers there would not comment on Megrahi's case unless the Libyan applied to be sent home, which, so far, he had not.

A court in The Hague, Netherlands found Megrahi guilty in 2001 of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. The Dec. 21, 1988 attack killed all 259 people aboard the London to New York flight and 11 people on the ground.