Lockerbie bomber’s health deteriorates

THE health of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was under question yesterday following reports it had deteriorated markedly.

Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, was yesterday in a special unit at the Tripoli Medical Centre in Libya, the reports said.

However, his British lawyer, Tony Kelly, said he could not “confirm or deny” the claims.

Megrahi’s brother, Abdenasser, told reporters: “He is at a special ward at Tripoli Medical Centre. His condition has deteriorated rapidly. He is unable to speak to anyone.

Doctors at the facility in Tripoli said they were expecting the result of lab exams from Germany to arrive before a special committee of doctors released a statement on his health circumstances.

Megrahi, 57, was jailed in 2001 for the bombing of Pan Am 103 which claimed 270 lives in 1988.

The decision to release Megrahi, who returned to Libya to a hero’s welcome, was made by the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

The reports about his health came as the UN General Assembly was urged to hold an inquiry into the Lockerbie bombing. Campaigners are optimistic that the UN could set up a commission to investigate the 1988 bombing which resulted in the deaths of 270 people.

Professor Robert Black, one of the original architects of the trial at Camp Zeist, said he backed the campaign for an inquiry.

He said: “It’s about trying to get an inquiry of some description into Lockerbie. Now that Al Megrahi has been released that method of trying to secure some truth through an appeal has vanished and this is about trying to look at other methods.”

Megrahi had been pursuing an appeal against conviction which campaigners hoped would have shed new facts on the case, but he dropped this just before his release.