Scotland government: No decision yet on al-Megrahi release

Published August 13th, 2009 - 10:39 GMT

British press reports said Thursday that Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi would likely be released from prison on compassionate grounds, but Scotland's government denied any such decision had been made.

 

According to the AP, the government denied the reports and described them as "speculation.". According to the authorities, the region's justice minister had yet to review all case information before deciding whether al-Megrahi should be freed from a Scottish prison. The former Libyian agent is terminally ill with cancer.

 

Al-Megrahi is serving a life sentence for the bombing of Pan Am 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988. The attack killed 270 people — most of them Americans.