Lockerbie bomber will remain safe in war-torn Libya
The new Libyan government has created new outrage in North America after refusing to extradite Abdel Basset al-Megrahi. He was the man behind the Lockerbie airline bombing who was released from prison early because of alleged poor health.
"We will not give any Libyan citizen to the West," Mohammed al-Alagi, the NTC justice minister, told reporters in Tripoli. The NTC became Libya's de facto government after rebels streamed into the capital last week, overthrowing leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"Al-Megrahi has already been judged once and he will not be judged again… We do not hand over Libyan citizens. Gaddafi does," Alagi added.
Megrahi, who had been diagnosed with cancer, served eight years in a Scottish prison for orchestrating the bombing of the Pan Am passenger plane which blew up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 killing 270 people.
He was released in 2009 on “compassionate grounds” after doctors gave him only months to live. “Megrahi's release angered politicians in the United States — where many of the victims of the bombing came from,” Reuters said.
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron later said the decision by Scotland's justice minister was a mistake.
Gaddafi's fall has prompted expectations in some Western capitals that Libya's new leaders can be persuaded to extradite him. “But that would be politically unpopular in Libya, where Megrahi is widely viewed as an innocent pawn in a political game,” Reuters said.
Televised images of Megrahi getting a hero's welcome after his release in Tripoli angered the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing.
One of Megrahi's neighbours in Tripoli said he was whisked away by security guards when the capital fell.
By David Wilkening
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