‘He wanted Megrahi home before truth came out at appeal’

Former justice minister Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who quit his job this week over the murder of anti-government protesters in Libya, says he has proof that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi personally ordered Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi to carry out the attack.

He also claims Libyan efforts to get Megrahi back home in 2009 were motivated primarily by Col Gaddafi’s desire to “hide” the truth, ahead of the bomber’s appeal against his sentence.

Relatives of the British dead described the revelations as “shocking” and called for a fresh investigation into the bombing.

Families of the American victims said the claims looked set to vindicate their long-held belief that the Libyans carried out the attack.

But Scottish supporters of Megrahi still believe he has been a scapegoat for the atrocity.

Mr Abdel-Jalil’s comments will further undermine the 68-year-old dictator, whose country tumbled further into anarchy yesterday, as protesters gained control of the east of the country. British nationals and other foreigners were continuing to flee, as pro-Gaddafi gunmen roamed the streets of Tripoli in an effort to maintain control.

Megrahi, who has prostate cancer, remains in Tripoli 18 months after being freed by the Scottish Government on compassionate grounds.

The remarkable new claims were made by the former Libyan minister in an interview with Swedish newspaper Expressen.

Mr Abdel-Jalil declares: “I have proof that Gaddafi gave the order about Lockerbie.”

He did not provide the proof but went on to claim the Libyan regime was desperate to keep the facts out of the public domain. “To hide it, he [Gaddafi] did everything in his power to get al-Megrahi back from Scotland,” the ex-minister said.

Col Gaddafi has never accepted personal responsibility for the blowing up of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. In 2002, Libya agreed to pay compensation to relatives on the grounds a state employee had been found guilty of the murders. But Libyan premier Dr Dhukri Ghanem insisted at the time that the payments did not represent an admission of guilt by the state itself.

The compensation payments, some of which have never been paid, were offered as part of a deal that led to UN sanctions on the country being lifted.

Any proof now of Libya’s guilt would bring fresh scrutiny of the then Labour government’s decision to assist the Libyan regime in getting Megrahi back. It emerged two weeks ago that, as trade talks with Libya progressed in 2008, the UK government, then led by Gordon Brown, had tried to do everything in its power to ensure Megrahi was returned home.

The Scottish Government subsequently rejected his return under a Prisoner Transfer Agreement but agreed he should go home because of his illness.

Mr Abdel-Jalil’s claim that Gaddafi wanted to “hide” his involvement is also of note. Megrahi’s release in August 2009 came just ahead of an appeal against his sentence in the High Court, when fresh evidence was expected to be heard. A condition of his return was that the appeal was dropped, and the grounds for the appeal have never been made public.

After the latest revelations, the Scottish Government said: “Ministers have never doubted the safety of the conviction.”

But Pamela Dix, from the group UK Families Flight 103, who lost her brother Peter in the bombing, said: “It really rocks to the core the way that the UK government has dealt with the whole Lockerbie issue, which is to sweep it under the carpet. If this was known outside a small circle in Libya, it is shocking.”

Ms Dix also called for a fresh investigation into the bombing in light of the claims. She said: “If he has really got evidence, the Crown Office should investigate.”

US relatives said the claims reinforced their own view about Megrahi’s guilt. Susan Cohen, who lost a daughter in the bombing, said: “This is so unsurprising. We know he ordered the bombing. It is all blatantly obvious. They could have seen out the appeal but they wanted him back first. Hopefully now the great lie can go.”

Bob Monetti, whose 20-year-old son Richard was killed, said: “Ever since the trial, there’s been a drumbeat in the UK about how this is a trumped up thing and Libya had nothing to do with it. If you went to the trial, there was no question about who did it and why, and who ordered it.”

But those who believe in Megrahi’s innocence maintained their position last night, and warned Mr Abdel-Jalil could be raising the prospect of proof of Libya’s guilt to crank up the pressure on Col Gaddafi to quit. Former Labour MP Tam Dalyell said: “There is the possibility this is being used as a bargaining chip.”

Professor Robert Black, one of the architects of the deal that saw Megrahi handed over by the Libyans for trial in 2000, said: “My attitude has always been that the evidence against Megrahi was not sufficient to convict him. But my attitude has never been it wasn’t Libya. I don’t know.”