21 Aug 2009

The British government has voiced 'deep' concern over the warm reception for the repatriated Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, upon his arrival in Libya.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband branded the jubilation around Megrahi's homecoming as "deeply upsetting and deeply distressing" and went on to warn the North African country about similar treatment of the 57-year-old Libyan handed over on Thursday on "compassionate grounds".

"It's very important that Libya knows … that how the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days ... will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's reentry into the civilized community of nations," Miliband said on Friday.

The Scottish government returned the convict, who is in terminal stages of prostate cancer, to 'die' at home.

Hundreds of jubilant Libyans welcomed the only convict of the downed Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988.

People in the capital Tripoli disregarded US warning against a "hero's welcome" of the Libyan citizen and poured onto the street around the airport where Megrahi plane landed on Thursday.

The Lockerbie incident claimed the lives of 259 aboard the US airliner along with eleven on the ground in the small Scottish town.

presstv