Region | Libya
Libya says Lockerbie decision linked to UK trade deals
The release of the Lockerbie bomber was linked to trade deals with Britain, Libya said amid fresh controversy on Saturday around the Scottish decision to free Abdel Baset Al Megrahi.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:55 August 22, 2009
- Image Credit: AP/Jamahiriya Broadcasting
- Abdel Baset Al Megrahi is greeted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in in Tripoli, Libya.
Tripoli: The release of the Lockerbie bomber was linked to trade deals with Britain, Libya said amid fresh controversy on Saturday around the Scottish decision to free Abdel Baset Al Megrahi.
Libyan leader Mummar Gaddafi late on Friday met Al Megrahi, who was freed on compassionate grounds because he is suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
Gaddafi's son Saif Al Islam said Megrahi's release on Thursday was linked to trade deals with Britain, which London denied.
"In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, [Al Megrahi] was always on the negotiating table," said Islam, who traveled to Scotland to accompany Al Megrahi back to Libya.
"All British interests were linked to the release of Abdel Baset Al Megrahi," he added in interview to Libyan TV channel Al Mutawassit.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street office denied that Al Megrahi's release was linked to Britain's interest in Libya's oil and gas reserves. A spokesman for the Foreign Office also rejected the allegations.
"No deal has been made between the UK government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests in the country," a spokesman said.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Friday refuted suggestions that the British government wanted Al Megrahi freed so that commercial relations with oil-rich Libya could be improved.
"I really reject that entirely," he said. "That is a slur both on myself and the government."
Al Megrahi, the only person convicted for the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people in the air and on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie, was sentenced to life in prison in 2001.
Hundreds of flag-waving well-wishers cheered Al Megrahi upon his arrival in Tripoli, despite warnings by the United States that a public celebration might damage relations.
US President Barack Obama called the red-carpet reception "highly objectionable", while his spokesman Robert Gibbs denounced an "outrageous and disgusting" display.
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