Cameron condemns Megrahi's release

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Conservative Party leader David Cameron said: "I think this is wrong and it's the product of some completely nonsensical thinking, in my view.

"This man was convicted of murdering 270 people, he showed no compassion to them, they weren't allowed to go home and die with their relatives in their own bed and I think this is a very bad decision."

But Tam Dalyell, the former Labour MP and ex-father of the House of Commons, who has persistently claimed that Megrahi was innocent, said: "Mr MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Minister, has arrived at the right decision on compassionate grounds.

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

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

Speaking from her home in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, she said: "I think it's an absolutely horrible decision. I don't know how you show compassion to someone who has shown no remorse for what he has done and as Mr MacAskill praised the justice system and the investigation and the trial, how do you then show this person compassion? It's just utterly despicable.

"I think he should have died in prison. Why should he be returned to Libya? That's not what we were promised. We were always told he would serve out his full sentence in Scotland."

Scottish Labour criticised the decision to release Megrahi. Labour leader and MSP Iain Gray said: "If I was First Minister, Megrahi would not be going back to Libya. The decision to release him is wrong. He was convicted of the worst terrorist atrocity in our history, the mass murder of 270 people.

"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."