Straw admits Lockerbie trade link

Trade and oil played a part in the decision to include the Lockerbie bomber in a prisoner transfer deal, Jack Straw has admitted.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the UK justice secretary said trade was "a very big part" of the 2007 talks that led to the prisoner deal with Libya. (...)

But officials admit the prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) was part of a wider set of negotiations aimed at bringing Libya in from the international cold, and improving British trade prospects with the country.

"Libya was a rogue state," Mr Straw told the paper. "We wanted to bring it back into the fold.

"And yes, that included trade because trade is an essential part of it and subsequently there was the BP deal." (...)

A spokesman for Mr Straw said the minister had always made clear that wider considerations such as trade played a part in the negotiation of the PTA. (...)

Deputy First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said: "All this discussion about the prisoner transfer agreement is academic because al-Megrahi wasn't released under the prisoner transfer agreement.

"Having said that, Jack Straw's comments do tend to support the view that the Scottish Government always took which was that the prisoner transfer agreement was tainted and compromised by trade discussions."

The Scottish National Party MSP added: "That's why I think we were right to both oppose that agreement, but also to reject the application of the Libyan Government to have al-Megrahi released under it."

[The above are extracts from a report on the BBC News website.]