London: The Lockerbie bomber refused chemotherapy in a Scottish prison in an attempt to make his condition deteriorate and force his release, it was claimed on Friday.

Abdul Basset Al Megrahi was believed to be terminally ill with prostate cancer when he was sent home to Libya on compassionate grounds exactly a year ago on Friday.

But since his release Al Megrahi has responded well to a similar treatment which is available on the National Health Service (NHS) and there are claims that he could live for another seven years.

Dr Andrew Fraser, the Scottish doctor responsible for assessing Al Megrahi's health a year ago, had assured the government that the bomber was resistant to treatment — assumed to mean that his body was not responding to it. But in fact Al Megrahi chose to refuse the treatment, ITV claimed Friday night.

Treatment discussed

It is understood that Al Megrahi discussed treatment with Scottish doctors but said he would only undergo it with the support of his family, who were in Libya.

Notes of a meeting on July 22 last year, which have been released by the Scottish Government, report that doctors told Al Megrahi that he needed to take his medication regularly suggesting that he had been skipping doses that would have improved his health. Just days later, his condition began to undergo such a dramatic deterioration that it appears to have been the deciding factor in the release.

The disclosure raises questions over whether Al Megrahi made a calculated risk to refuse his medication so he would appear more frail just weeks before the decision to release him was made.

Al Megrahi, 58, is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie that killed 270 people.

Reaction: Obama for prison term

The Obama administration has asked that Lockerbie bomber Abdul Basset Al Megrahi be returned to a Scottish prison.

John Brennan, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, told reporters accompanying the vacationing leader that the US has "expressed our strong conviction" to Scottish officials that AlMegrahi should not remain free. The comments came on Friday, on the first anniversary of Al Megrahi's release.

Brennan criticised what he termed the "unfortunate and inappropriate and wrong decision" to free him and added: "We've expressed our strong conviction that Al Megrahi should serve out the remainder— the entirety — of his sentence in a Scottish prison."

— AP