Lockerbie bomber flies home to die after being released

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the man convicted of Britain's worst terror attack, was released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds. He has terminal cancer and possibly less than three months to live.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill defied pressure from Washington and the relatives of many of the 270 victims to order the release.

He said the Scottish people pride themselves on their "humanity" and that al-Megrahi was now facing a sentence from a "higher power".

He added: "Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days.

"But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days. Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion be available."

Al-Megrahi, 57, was driven from Greenock prison under police escort to Glasgow airport to board a private jet sent by Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi to fly him back to his home country.

A convoy arrived at Glasgow airport at around 3.05pm. The van transporting al-Megrahi was taken straight on to the tarmac where the plane, an Airbus operated by Libyan airline Afriqiyah, was waiting.

After a short delay, the bomber, wearing a white tracksuit and baseball cap, left the van and slowly walked with a stick up the stairs onto the jet. The plane took off at 3.26pm.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said the SNP's handling of this case "had let down Scotland".

He said: "If I was First Minister, al-Megrahi would not be going back to Libya. The decision to release him is wrong.

"While one can have sympathy for the family of a gravely ill prisoner, on balance, our duty is to honour and respect the victims of Lockerbie and have compassion for them.

"The SNP's handling of this case has let down Scotland.

"The cynical manner in which this decision has been spun out over the last month with a series of leaks, briefings and the Justice Secretary's ill-advised visit to Greenock Prison was not fitting behaviour by a Scottish government."

But Tam Dalyell, the former Labour MP, who has persistently claimed that al-Megrahi was innocent, said today: "Mr MacAskill has arrived at the right decision on compassionate grounds.

"I do not accept his endorsement of the guilt of Mr al-Megrahi, whom I continue to believe had nothing whatsoever to do with the crime of Lockerbie."

The Libyan was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum of 27 years after being convicted of mass murder following a trial under Scottish law at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in 2001 for the 1988 bombing.

Of the 270 people killed in the terror strike on Pan Am flight 103, 189 were US citizens.

Seven US senators, including Edward Kennedy and former Democrat presidential candidate John Kerry, had sought to block al-Megrahi's release.

Kara Weipz, 36, who lost her student brother Rick, 20, in the atrocity, condemned the decision.

Speaking from her home in New Jersey, she said: "I think it's an absolutely horrible decision. It's just utterly despicable. He should have died in prison."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was "absolutely wrong". The White House said that it "deeply regrets" the Scottish government's decision.

Gordon Brown was silent on the issue. Downing Street said the Prime Minister had no plans to comment because the decision was one for the devolved government in Edinburgh.

Cancer specialist Professor Karol Sikora said the Libyan had an "aggressive" form of prostate cancer which was not responding to treatment.

Al-Megrahi pleaded to die with his family in Libya in an emotional letter to Mr MacAskill. He said: "I am terminally ill with no prospect of recovery.

"I am a family man: first and foremost I am a son, husband, father and grandfather. It would be my wish to return to my family to spend the short time that I have left with them.

"I have been separated from my family as a result of what I consider to be an unjust conviction. I have tried to bear that with a degree of equanimity and dignity."