Lockerbie bomber's wife condemns way he is treated

Published on Sunday 16 November 2008 21:19

THE wife of the terminally-ill Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, has hit out at the Scottish authorities for not taking better care of him.

The Libyan was diagnosed with prostate cancer after hospital tests in September, and his wife, Aisha al-Megrahi, claimed he had been turned away from hospitals because of the security measures required before they could treat him.

She spoke out hours after a court rejected her husband's appeal to be freed on bail because of his illness last Friday.

Speaking to a Libyan newspaper considered close to Seif al-Islam al-Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, Muammar al-Gaddafi, she said: "Hospitals in Scotland refused to take him in because of the increased security involved in transferring him, especially the use of helicopters."

She added that, despite increased surveillance, "he remains handcuffed to the bed when he is examined, which affects his morale badly".

However, the Scottish Prison Service refuted the allegations last night, saying that, on his most recent hospital visit to Inverclyde Royal Infirmary in September, there were no helicopters involved.

Megrahi, a 56-year-old Libyan former intelligence officer, is serving a life sentence, with a minimum term of 27 years, for blowing up Pan Am flight 103 from London to New York over Lockerbie on the night of 21 December, 1988.

The blast killed all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground.

His lawyers applied for his interim release after announcing that he had prostate cancer, which had spread to other parts of his body.

But on Friday, the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, in rejecting the application, said he could live for years, depending on how successful his treatment is. "While the disease from which the appellant suffers is incurable and may cause his death, he is not at present suffering material pain or disability," Lord Hamilton, the Lord Justice-General, said.

Megrahi was sentenced in 2001 by three Scottish judges sitting at an extraordinary tribunal at Kamp van Zeist in the Netherlands.

He is seeking to have his conviction overturned, and an appeal is due to be heard next year.

His lawyers applied for his interim release because of his illness.

Megrahi, who is being held at Greenock prison, voiced deep disappointment after last week's court decision.

"I am very distressed that the court has refused me bail pending the hearing of my appeal, and the chance to spend my remaining time with my family," he said in a statement read out by his lawyer, Tony Kelly.

Tom Fox, the communications director for the Scottish Prison Service said he was unable to comment on individual cases.

However, he said that many prisoners being transported to hospital were handcuffed and taken under escort, as a matter of routine.

"If a prisoner requires hospital treatment, then security arrangements are put in place, as per a security risk assessment carried out on each individual," Mr Fox said.