21 August 2009
Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
The Libyan man jailed in Scotland for the bombing of a US plane over Lockerbie (Scotland) in 1988, has been set free and flown home. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, was released by the Scottish government on compassion grounds.
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Doctors reports say he is terminally ill with prostate cancer and has only three months to live.

The Scottish government came under fierce criticism shortly after Magrahi’s released.

US President Barack Obama in a radio interview said: “We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this. We thought it was a mistake.”´according to AP

Obama also said he had told the Libyan government that Megrahi should not receive a hero’s welcome and should be placed under house arrest.

The families of the American victims of the Lockerbie bombing reacted bitterly to the decision to set “someone who never showed remorse” free.

Most of the 270 people who died in the bombing were Americans.

The Libyan government has been silent on the issue, but observes say it will be regarded as a diplomatic triumph by Tripoli.

The American airliner, Pan Am Flight 103, crashed over Lockerbie as a result of a terrorist bomb on 21 December 1988.

Some 270 were killed – 259 on the plane and 11 in Lockerbie. The victims were citizens from 21 nations.

Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 following an 84-day trial under Scottish law at Camp Zeist in Netherlands.

He was later transferred to Greenock jail near Glasgow.

His co-accused, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted and returned to Libya.[/font]