Lockerbie: Megrahi reported dead

[This is the headline over a report which has just gone up on the heraldscotland website. It reads as follows:]

The man accused of the Lockerbie bombing has died, according to reports.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi had been released home to die in Libya from prison in Scotland in August.

In his only full-length interview since being released from prison, Megrahi told The Herald: "We all want to know the truth. The truth never dies."

Speaking from a hospital bed at his home in Tripoli, Megrahi talked extensively about his 10-year battle with the Scottish legal system and insisted he did not commit the worst terrorist act on mainland Britain.

Megrahi, who had terminal prostate cancer, revealed he dropped his appeal against the conviction because he would not live to see its outcome and was desperate to return to his family.

"It is all about my family, " he said. "People have said there was pressure from the Libyan authorities or Scottish authorities, but it wasn't anything like this."

Instead, he put his faith in an appeal for compassion and said he was impressed by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill during their meeting at Greenock Prison.

"I thought he was a very decent man and he gave me a chance to say what I wanted and to express myself. He gave me the chance to make a presentation to him and he was very polite."

From a report on The Scotsman website:

'But Megrahi's lawyer, Tony Kelly, told Reuters: "It's absolutely untrue. He's definitely not dead."

'"I'm not saying anything about his health condition other than the fact he is alive and breathing," Kelly said.'

The following report is from the website of The Tripoli Post:

'The family of the Libyan citizen Abdulbaset Al-Megrahi has denied that he had died and said reports in some British media outlets today are totally incorrect, and that he is doing fine.

'Speaking to The Tripoli Post by phone at 5:50 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Mr. Abdul Hakim Al-Megrahi, a brother of Abdulbaset, said he is doing fine and is receiving his treatment as scheduled by his doctor.

'Abdul Hakim Al-Megrahi said that his brother Abdulbaset was on the phone speaking to his mother less than half an hour ago.

'Al-Megrahi was unjustly convicted in the Lockerbie bombing in 2001 by a Scottish court and has been released on compassionate grounds on 20 August 2009.

'Legal experts around the world including those in UK and the US have said that Al-Megrahi has been innocent all the way and that the Scottish judicial system clearly committed a miscarriage of justice when it found him guilty in the Lockerbie case.'

The following is an extract from a report in The Scotsman of Thursday, 22 October:

'The Lockerbie bomber's lawyer last night called for an apology from the satellite broadcaster Sky News after it reported that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had died.

'Tony Kelly said he had spoken to his client yesterday afternoon in the minutes after Sky had reported that Megrahi had passed away. The report, which aired at about 4pm, was quickly altered to include Kelly's denial.'