'Blair deal linked to Megrahi, but not by name' – Gaddafi's son

Published on Friday 28 August 2009 22:49

COLONEL Muammar Gaddafi's son has claimed the prisoner transfer agreement signed by the UK and Libya was directly linked to talks on trade and oil between the two countries.

Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi said the so-called "deal in the desert" on prisoner transfers had targeted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, although his name was not specifically mentioned.

Mr Gaddafi said the prisoner transfer deal was signed at the same time as an oil deal. But he denied the business talks had anything to do with the eventual release last week of Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

He also said the mercy shown to Megrahi by the Scottish Government had transformed the image of Britain, which the Arab world no longer regarded as a crusader against Islam.

He described justice secretary Kenny MacAskill as a "great man", adding that his highly controversial decision had cleared the way for new business between the UK and Libya.

He said Mr MacAskill's decision had persuaded Libyans that "the British and Scottish" were more civilised than they had thought. He said: "That is why, for the first time in our history, that Libyan citizens have been out in the streets waving a different flag – the Scottish flag."

The politician, tipped to succeed his father as Libyan leader, apologised for any perception that his government had not done all it could to prevent the scenes of celebration that greeted Megrahi when he touched down in his homeland.

Mr Gaddafi insisted Libya had abided by a request from Britain not to give him a hero's welcome, and said the reception was unofficial. There had been no ministers or officials to meet him.

His comments sparked Tory demands for the UK government to disclose details of its dealings with Libya.

Shadow Scotland Office minister Ben Wallace said: "If the Westminster government had no involvement in the decision to release Megrahi, then Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson should have no objection to releasing details of their dealings with Libya.

The government needs to prove that trade negotiations were kept completely separate from the release of the Lockerbie bomber."

But Mr Gaddafi said: "For the last seven to eight years we have been trying very hard to transfer Mr Megrahi to Libya to serve his sentence here and we have tried many times in the past to sign the PTA (prisoner transfer agreement) without mentioning Mr Megrahi, but it was obvious we were targeting Mr Megrahi and the PTA was on the table all the time. It was part of the bargaining deal with the UK.

"When (former prime minister Tony] Blair came here, we signed the agreement. We didn't mention Mr Megrahi. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and politics and deals were all with the PTA."