Our agony: Last-ditch bid by US families to halt release

In a final attempt to persuade Kenny MacAskill that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi should stay in jail, the families sent personal accounts of the two decades of grief they had suffered since the atrocity.

The relatives wrote letters to Mr MacAskill condemning suggestions that Megrahi is to be allowed home to Libya just eight and a half years after he was convicted of the biggest mass murder in British legal history.

Their moving testimonies arrived on the justice secretary's desk yesterday and followed the pressure from American politicians, who are demanding that Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, should spend what remains of his life in jail.

The relatives said they had faith in the Scottish legal system that convicted Megrahi and pointed to assurances given by both Britain and America that the former Libyan intelligence agent would serve out his life sentence in Scotland.

Mary Kay Stratis, who was widowed after Elia Stratis died in the bombing in December 1988, told Mr MacAskill how her husband was unable to share the formative years of their three children, who were seven, ten and 13 when he was murdered.

He did not live to see their weddings, she said, and missed out on "holding his grandchildren".

Mrs Stratis added that sanctioning the release of Megrahi on compassionate grounds or under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement signed by Tony Blair and the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi defied "any sense of justice".

Brian Flynn, brother of victim John Flynn, said Col Gaddafi sent Megrahi to bomb the flight. He asked: "How can you even consider granting the request of the author of the crime to release the perpetrator?"

Mary Lou Ciulla, who lost her husband Frank, said: "Mr Megrahi has been convicted of this horrible crime and must serve his sentence. To release him now, to give him his last days of life with his family and friends, is something we cannot condone. My husband did not get that privilege. How can we grant it to his murderer?"

Dorothy Coker, the stepmother of Jason and Eric Coker, who died, said: "Megrahi took all the wonders that life has in store from our sons, young men of 20 still unfulfilled in all that had yet to come.

"The loss we family members have felt in not having them in our lives cannot be calculated and continues each and every day.

"We feel strongly that consideration not be given to Mr Megrahi in his appeal to be sent to Libya to complete his incarceration. The idea of allowing such a thing is an outrage to us, to our children, and to all the families.

"In 20 years he has not owned up to what he did, has never expressed any remorse for killing so many nor expressed any concern for the loss dealt to all these families. To have participated in such a horrendous and outrageous act does not warrant consideration in any such request."

The letters, seen by The Scotsman, give a graphic illustration of the strength of feeling that the case has aroused in America and give an indication of the opprobrium that will be heaped on Scottish ministers who have now decided that Megrahi should go home.

The letters were compiled at Syracuse University, which lost 35 students in the disaster. They were based on their contributions to a video-conference held involving Mr MacAskill and US relatives in July.

The relatives put their feelings down on paper because their discussions with Mr MacAskill were not recorded. The letters were sent to Mr MacAskill as he made up his mind.

Frank Duggan, a Washington lawyer and President of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, said: "We could see him on the screen, but he was far away so that we could not see his expression.

"There were a lot of tears and he couldn't have failed to have been as moved as we were. This was the first time that we had the chance to speak about this."

Concerns over Scotland's future relations with US

THE Scottish Government has been put under intense pressure in the past week from the Obama administration and leading United States senators to keep the Lockerbie bomber in jail.

That lobbying, driven by the desire of US victims' relatives that the one man convicted of the atrocity serves out his time in jail, has been unprecedented since devolution and has raised concerns over the future of Scotland's relations with the US.

On a recent visit to Washington, First Minister Alex Salmond was given an audience with secretary of state Hillary Clinton, while leading senators and congressmen have joined in the annual Tartan Day celebrations.

Two years ago, House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, the third most important politician in the US, attended a Tartan Week reception.

This, and regular trips by ministers to woo US businesses, was linked to a strategy to promote Scotland and attract investment. For the SNP, it was important for tapping into the Scottish diaspora and trying to win influential foreign support for an independent Scotland.

The fear is that if the Scottish Government upsets the US over Lockerbie, then much of this good work could be undone, and doors to influential people slammed shut. The apparent trailing of a decision last week to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds certainly seemed to sour transatlantic relations.

However, by going for compassionate release – which does not break the international agreement for Megrahi to serve out his sentence in Scotland – the damage may be limited. The Scotsman understands that Ms Clinton had made it clear that the option of a prisoner transfer release was unacceptable as, in theory, it meant Megrahi would serve his sentence in Libya.

Sources close to the Libyans say the Obama administration is "relaxed" about Megrahi going home to die. The one proviso, which the Libyans are said to have acceded to, is that he will not receive a hero's welcome.