Lockerbie bomber Megrahi release reaches six-month milestone

Published on Friday 19 February 2010 21:40

FAMILIES who lost loved ones in the Lockerbie atrocity have called for the bomber's medical records to be published –exactly six months after he was freed.

US victims of the bombing said they wanted to see all the medical evidence that saw Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi released on the basis that he only had three months to live.

Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill cited the three-month prognosis when he released Megrahi on compassionate grounds on 20 August last year.

Rosemary Wolfe, who lost her step-daughter Miriam, 20, in the catastrophe, said: "The fact that he is still alive does not surprise me. I've never thought he was at death's door when he was released. It is just tragic that his release happened and I don't know of any families in the US who think differently.

"To me, this was not a question of compassion, this was a question of justice and keeping the murderer of 270 people in a major international crime in prison.

"Sadly, it is too late for anything to be done about this. But I would like to see MacAskill release all the medical records on this.

"I have requested this under the Freedom of Information Act, long before the decision was made, but I have had no response."

Yesterday, Mr MacAskill's decision was also condemned by Labour and the Conservatives.

Labour leader Iain Gray said: "The decision to release Megrahi was a grave error of judgment. Kenny MacAskill should have properly weighed the seriousness of Megrahi's crime and long sentence against his compassion for the victims of the Lockerbie bombing."

Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said: "Alex Salmond's SNP refused to publish the independent medical advice which they used to free him, but the time has come for that to change."