Tories make fresh call to see Megrahi's medical files

Published on Monday 5 April 2010 22:16

FRESH calls were made yesterday for the release of the Lockerbie bomber's medical records after reports that he could be dead within a month.

The Tories made the demand after a specialist claimed the Libyan's cancer had spread.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 58, is no longer being treated for the disease and is bed-bound at home, according to British cancer expert Professor Karol Sikora.

The convicted terrorist was said to have less than three months to live when he was freed from prison and allowed to return to Libya on compassionate grounds last August.

Prof Sikora, who compiled a report on Megrahi's condition for the Libyan government before he was freed, dismissed claims that his condition may have been exaggerated.

The doctor said the cancer had spread from his prostate to his kidneys, liver, pelvis and lymph nodes.

Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said yesterday Prof Sikora's comments were "all the more reason for releasing the medical reports" relating to the bomber's condition.

The Conservative MSP said that when Megrahi was released, the prognosis was that he had just three months to live. But Mr Aitken pointed out: "He has lived for the best part of nine months now and we want to see the medical reports."

Megrahi is the only man to have been convicted of the Lockerbie atrocity, which saw 270 people killed in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December, 1988.