Scotland slams critics as CNN finds Lockerbie bomber near death
The Scottish government Monday took aim at critics of its decision to release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, a day after CNN found him comatose and near death.
CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson found al Megrahi under the care of his family in his palatial Tripoli villa Sunday, surviving on oxygen and an intravenous drip.
A number of leading United States senators have been highly critical of Scotland’s decision to release Megrahi from prison in 2009 on the grounds that he had cancer and was not likely to live more than three months.
On Monday the Scottish authorities hit back.
“As has always been said, al Megrahi is dying of a terminal disease,” said the Scottish government and the local council that monitors him since his release.
“Speculation about al Megrahi in recent days has been unhelpful, unnecessary and indeed ill-informed,” the government and East Renfrewshire Council said in a statement.
The cancer-stricken former Libyan intelligence officer may be the last man alive who knows precisely who in the Libya government authorized the 1988 bombing, which killed 270 people.