[This is the headline over a report in today's edition of The Herald. It reads in part:]
The Gaddafi regime threatened Britain there would be “dire consequences” for UK-Libya relations if the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing died in his Scottish jail cell.
The Gaddafi regime threatened Britain there would be “dire consequences” for UK-Libya relations if the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing died in his Scottish jail cell.
The
extent of lobbying by the Libyan Government in the lead-up to
Abdelbasset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi’s release on compassionate grounds in
August 2009 was revealed yesterday after reporters found confidential
documents in the abandoned British Embassy building in Tripoli.
According to one, senior Foreign Office
official Robert Dixon wrote to then Foreign Secretary David Miliband in
January 2009, stating Muammar Gaddafi wanted Megrahi back home in Libya
“at all costs”.
“Libyan officials and ministers have warned
of dire consequences for the UK-Libya relationship and UK commercial
operations in Libya in the event of Megrahi’s death in custody,” he
wrote.
Mr Dixon added: “We believe Libya might seek to exact vengeance.” (...)
After a review of the paperwork in the case, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus
O’Donnell said in February ministers in the last Labour Government
believed Megrahi’s release would be the “best outcome” as they feared
that UK interests in Libya would be damaged if he was allowed to die in a
Scottish jail. (...)
A spokesman for Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who took the decision
to release him, said: “The Scottish Government were the only ones
playing with a straight bat – in stark contrast to the astonishing
hypocrisy of the last UK Labour Government.”
[A very similar report appears in today's edition of The Scotsman. It concludes, however, with an account of the opinion poll published in yesterday's Scottish Sunday Express.]
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