Holyrood's Justice Committee will consider the documentation they will need to carry out its forthcoming inquiry into the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.
The committee has already announced that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will be called to give evidence.
The Holyrood inquiry will focus on the Government's handling of Megrahi's appeal for compassionate release and a separate unsuccessful Libyan application to transfer him to a prison in Libya.
Mr MacAskill's decision angered US families of the victims, who said the 57-year-old, who has terminal cancer, should have died in HMP Greenock where he was being held.
The inquiry will also take evidence from others who contributed to the advice on which the minister's decision was based.
But it will not consider the question of whether the cabinet secretary was right to conclude that compassionate release was justified in the circumstances.
And the circumstances of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie on December 21 1988 would not be looked into. (...)
MPs on the Commons' Scottish Affairs Select Committee announced last month they are to study the handling of Megrahi's release as part of a wider probe into relations between Westminster and Holyrood.
[The above are excerpts from a report in today's edition of The Herald. An earlier post on the Justice Committee investigation can be read here.
The following are excerpts from BBC News website's report after today's Justice Committee meeting:]
A Holyrood committee will write to the US and UK governments in its inquiry into the Lockerbie bomber's release.
The justice committee will request information on their understanding of a prisoner transfer agreement between Libya and the UK signed by Tony Blair. (...)
Earlier this year Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill decided not to transfer Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi but rather released him on compassionate grounds.
Mr [Bill] Aitken [the committee convener] said he was unsure what the outcome of writing to the two governments might be.
He said: "Whether or not anything might come out of that which would be of any particular value remains to be seen, but my view would be that we should at least try."
SNP committee member Nigel Don said Mr MacAskill did not seem to be clear about the understanding between the US the UK concerning the prisoner transfer agreement.
He called for the committee to write to Washington on the issue.
"I think there's an opportunity there to fill in that absent piece of information," Mr Don said.
Lib Dem Robert Brown said the issue was dealt with under international treaties and Labour's Cathy Craigie questioned whether this issue had "any bearing" on the decision to release Megrahi.
However, the SNP's Stewart Maxwell said the committee's remit did cover the subject.
[Interesting, but not in the least unexpected, to find Labour members of the committee questioning whether its remit covered the understandings between the UK and US Governments regarding where Mr Megrahi's sentence would be served. This issue has been dealt with in an earlier post on this blog.]
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