Decision on fate of Lockerbie bomber due next week

SCOTLAND’S justice secretary will make an announcement by the end of next week on the fate of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

Megrahi, a former intelligence agent who was convicted of the bombing in 2001 and sentenced to 27 years in prison, has terminal prostate cancer.

Libya has asked that he be released on compassionate grounds to see his family before he dies.