News In Focus
22 October 2008
Release dilemma as cancer attacks Lockerbie bomber
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill could face a dilemma over the possible compassionate release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdulbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, if reports that he is in the advanced stages of prostate cancer are confirmed.
It is reported today that two consultants have each given an opinion that Megrahi, serving a minimum of 27 years in Greenock Prison for the 1988 bombing of the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie which killed 270 people, has weeks rather than months to live, as the cancer has spread to other parts of his body.
An application for early release can be made where a prisoner is predicted to have less than three months to live. The decision would rest with the Justice Secretary. The UK Government would become involved if the question whether to transfer Megrahi to Libya to serve the remainder of his sentence came under consideration.
Megrahi was recently given permission by the criminal appeal court in Scotland to bring a full set of grounds of appeal, running to 317 pages, before the court following the referral of his case by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. An appeal hearing is not thought likely to take place until late next year. It would be open to a party able to demonstrate an interest to ask the court to hear the case posthumously. Some British relatives of the victims, including Dr Jim Swire, have consistently campaigned for a full review of the case, believing that the truth has yet to emerge.
Megrahi's solicitor Tony Kelly has yet to confirm whether an application for release has been made.