Lockerbie bomber found dying in Libya

Calls for Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to face extradition appear redundant after footage emerges showing him close to death The campaign for the extradition of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, has in effect ended after footage emerged showing him apparently close to death. Calls for his rearrest from US senators, lawyers and relatives of Lockerbie bombing victims appeared redundant given Megrahi’s abject condition in images recorded at his mother’s house in Tripoli. The Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond, said the Scottish government “never had any intention” of asking for Megrahi to be returned to jail. Andrew Mitchell, the UK government foreign minister, said the question was now “academic” after CNN broadcast footage showing Megrahi lying in bed unconscious and apparently “at death’s door”. Mitchell said the Tories had opposed Megrahi’s original release on compassionate grounds in 2009, but that the question of whether to extradite him was a matter for the Scottish government. He added: “It’s clear that many of these matters are now academic as his life is drawing to a close … it’s clear from reports today that he has not got much longer to live.” Megrahi’s son Khaled and brother Abdul Nasser al-Megrahi told reporters at the family home that Megrahi was now comatose and close to death. They said he had been without proper medical attention for several days, claiming his medication had been looted from pharmacists during the rebel advance into Tripoli. “There is no doctor. There is nobody to ask. We don’t have any phone line to call anybody,” Khaled al-Megrahi said. Speaking on Sky News, Salmond said recent speculation about Megrahi’s disappearance had been “completely inaccurate”. He said: “The only people who have any authority in this matter are the Scottish government, who have jurisdiction in this matter … and the new Libyan transitional council, who are the new duly constituted legal authority in Libya. “We have never had and don’t have any intention of asking for the extradition of Mr Megrahi. It’s quite clear from the Libyan transitional council that following their own laws they had never any intention of agreeing to such extradition.” On Monday the Libyan rebels’ National Transitional Council said the Megrahi case was not a priority. The justice minister, Mohammed al-Alagi, said: “We have very many important issues now. We realise this [the Megrahi case] is very important to some of our western allies. But the most crucial thing now is to secure our country. The second thing is to stabilise Libya so that it can function. After that we can look at related issues between us and other governments.” Calls for Megrahi to be either taken back into Scottish custody or extradited to the US for a fresh trial intensified last week, led by the US Republican Mitt Romney, after it emerged that Scottish officials charged with monitoring him in Libya after his early release from jail had been unable to make contact. That raised substantial questions about whether Megrahi had breached the terms of his release on licence in August 2009. On Sunday night, East Renfrewshire council and the Scottish government issued a joint statement saying they had finally made contact with Megrahi’s family over the weekend. However, East Renfrewshire officials have admitted to the Guardian that they have not yet spoken to Megrahi in person. Their last contact directly with him was on 8 August. They said they were still trying to talk to him, but confirmed that his dramatically worsening health was making that task far more difficult. “We are still in the process of re-establishing contact,” a council spokesman said on Monday morning. “We have had some contact with the family and we will continue with that.” Direct contact is “part of the licence and that is what we are aiming for, if we can do that”, he said. Romney and US relatives claim Megrahi was not properly punished for his alleged role in the Lockerbie atrocity, in which 270 crew, passengers and people on the ground were killed when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over the small Scottish town in December 1988. Despite his repeated claims of innocence, they also believe he could offer new evidence about Libya’s role in the bombing. John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, said Megrahi should have received the death penalty for Lockerbie. “To me it will be a signal of how serious the rebel government is for good relations with the United States and the west if they hand over Megrahi for trial,” he said. “He killed 270 people. He served roughly 10 years in jail before he was released by British authorities. Do the math – that means he served roughly two weeks in prison for every person he killed. Two weeks per murder. That is not nearly enough.” In a statement posted on a “justice for Megrahi” page on Facebook on Saturday night, Khaled al-Megrahi said: “My father’s general health is very bad. Sometimes he is in a coma. The family is trying to help him to eat at least a little food. We move him to hospital and his parent’s house. He is still confined to his bed, and my mother and his sister are helping him. “All our house telephones are out of order. I personally tried to get in touch with the drug store to get his regular daily use of medicine. Thieves have stolen most of his medicine.” Dr Jim Swire, the Lockerbie campaigner whose daughter Flora died in the attack, said Megrahi ought to be allowed to die with dignity. “I feel in view of all he has been through that he should have been accorded a peaceful end in Tripoli with his family. The idea of extraditing him is a monstrous one,” he said. “This is a man who withdrew his appeal so that he could be allowed to die close to his family and he deserves to be left in peace for his last days.” Abdelbaset al-Megrahi Libya Lockerbie plane bombing Arab and Middle East unrest Scotland Middle East Africa Global terrorism UK security and terrorism Air transport Severin Carrell Luke Harding guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 29, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.