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No early release for dying Lockerbie bomber

By John Hirst

No early release for dying Lockerbie bomber

Libyan man Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi fails to gain early release from prison because he is terminally ill with late-stage cancer

"Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan man jailed for the Lockerbie bombing, today lost an attempt to secure early release from prison because he is terminally ill with cancer.

Judges from Scotland's court of criminal appeal rejected an application from his defence team for him to be freed pending the outcome of an appeal against his conviction.

Lawyers for Megrahi, currently seven years into a 27-year sentence for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21 1988, had requested his immediate release from Greenock prison to live with his family near Glasgow under strict bail conditions.

The former Libyan intelligence officer is additionally appealing against the conviction after the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said last year he may have been wrongly imprisoned. He has repeatedly denied carrying out the bombing that killed 270 people, including all 259 people on board and 11 residents of Lockerbie, where the plane crashed.

Lawyers for the 56-year-old revealed last month that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, which has spread to other parts of his body".

There is a provision to allow release upon compassionate grounds. It is a shame that the Royal Perogative of mercy is not exercised in this case. Especially as there is doubt that he actually carried out the bombing, and appears to have been a patsy delivered up by Libya to placate the British.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on November 14, 2008 (boomark / email).