Berlusconi visits Libya

Italy’s prime minister defied harsh criticism to fly to Libya just 10 days after its leader and people gave a warm welcome to a man just released from prison after a deadly 1988 airline bombing.

Silvio Berlusconi was the first Western leader to visit Tripoli since Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan man found guilty in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, was released from prison in Scotland.

Italian officials said his trip to celebrate a Libyan-Italian agreement to build a new road was planned well before Megrahi’s contentious release.