The wife of convicted Lockerbie bomber Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi said in an interview published on Sunday that her husband is critically ill with cancer and slammed Scotland's authorities for not taking better care of him.
Aisha al-Megrahi spoke to the daily Oea, considered close to Seif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, after a Scottish court on Friday rejected her husband's appeal to be freed on bail because of his illness.
"Hospitals in Scotland refused to take him in because of the increased security involved in transferring him, especially the use of helicopters," Oea quoted her as saying.
And despite increased surveillance "he remains handcuffed to the bed when he is examined, which affects his morale badly," she added. (…)
His lawyers applied for his interim release after announcing last month that he has prostate cancer which has spread to other parts of his body.
But on Friday the Appeal Court in Edinburgh ruled that he could live for years depending on how successful his treatment is.
"While the disease from which the appellant suffers is incurable and may cause his death, he is not at present suffering material pain or disability," Lord Justice General Arthur Hamilton said.
The Libyan newspaper slammed the ruling as "inhuman" and accused the judicial authorities in Scotland of "politicising the trial" of Megrahi.
"We expected justice to atone for the sin of condemning an innocent man convicted for political reasons, and ease his suffering", the paper wrote, and accused the Scottish judges of having been "stripped of their humanity". (…)
On Friday Megrahi, who is being held at Greenock prison in western Scotland, voiced deep disappointment.
"I am very distressed that the court has refused me bail pending the hearing of my appeal, and the chance to spend my remaining time with my family," he said in a statement read out by his lawyer Tony Kelly.
"I wish to reiterate that I had nothing whatsoever to do with the Lockerbie bombing, and that the fight for justice will continue whether or not I'm alive to witness my name being cleared."
[From an article by the news agency Agence France Presse.
The story has been picked up in Monday's issue of The Scotsman. It can be read here.]
"On Friday Megrahi, who is being held at Greenock prison in western Scotland, voiced deep disappointment over the refusal of his bail application:
ReplyDelete'I am very distressed that the court has refused me bail pending the hearing of my appeal, and the chance to spend my remaining time with my family,' he said in a statement read out by his lawyer Tony Kelly.
'I wish to reiterate that I had nothing whatsoever to do with the Lockerbie bombing, and that the fight for justice will continue whether or not I'm alive to witness my name being cleared.'
Abdelbaset Megrahi, his wife Aisha and all of his family can rest assured that there are many British people who know he is not guilty, and who will not allow his wrongful (and disgraceful) conviction for the Lockerbie bombing to stand. He is innocent, as his second appeal against conviction will undoubtedly show.