The Libyan jailed for the Lockerbie bombing could be released soon on compassionate grounds after Scottish ministers were told his prostate cancer is at a terminal stage.
The Scottish justice minister, Kenny Macaskill, has been given "compelling" new medical reports that show Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's prostate cancer has significantly worsened over the last few weeks and is in its final stages.
Macaskill took the unprecedented step of visiting Megrahi – who was jailed in 2001 for a minimum of 25 years for bombing Pam Am flight 103 in December 1988 – at Greenock prison earlier today after the Libyan government made two formal requests for his early release. (...)
It is thought that Megrahi pleaded to be allowed to die at home in Libya when he met Macaskill today. The minister would not comment after leaving the prison this morning and Megrahi's lawyer, Tony Kelly, who was present at the meeting, refused to discuss the case.
Sources have indicated that Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds is the first option being considered by Macaskill, with a decision expected before the end of this month.
Christine Grahame, the Scottish National party MSP for South of Scotland, who visited Megrahi in prison recently, said she believed the medical case for his compassionate release had become very powerful. "He's not responding well to chemotherapy," she said. "He's in the terminal stages and the prognosis is in terms of months or extended weeks; certainly not into next year. That man is desperate to be home."
Sending Megrahi to continue his sentence in a Libyan jail under the prisoner transfer agreement would require the former Libyan sanctions buster to drop his appeal – a move he is thought to be resisting. Backed by many relatives of the British victims and senior Scottish legal figures, Megrahi has insisted he is innocent of the bombing – a claim disputed by the US authorities, the CIA and American relatives of the dead.
If it continues, his appeal will hear new evidence that casts significant doubt on the reliability and accuracy of a Maltese shopkeeper who was the lead witness, the conduct of Scottish detectives and scientific evidence about the bombing.
The Scottish government is under intense diplomatic pressure from the US government to keep Megrahi in prison. The US state department and its attorney general, Eric Holder, have formally opposed the Libyan applications.
Macaskill said he recently had a "pretty difficult" video conference with US relatives who reject Megrahi's claim that he is innocent and believe he should die in prison.
Sources have indicated that Megrahi's rapidly worsening condition makes it more difficult to argue against his release on compassionate grounds, but it poses a different dilemma for Macaskill.
His compassionate release would allow him to continue his appeal and for the appeal to be heard after his death. If the appeal succeeds, the Scottish legal system and police would face intense criticism and embarrassing claims that Megrahi was deliberately framed for the bombing.
Grahame said: "It would be much more damaging for the Scottish judicial system if the appeal didn't continue but the material later came out in the public domain which showed there was a miscarriage of justice."
[From a report by Scotland correspondent Severin Carrell on the website of The Guardian.]
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