Salmond raises Lockerbie concern
BBC 2007 06 07
Scotland's first minister has demanded clarification from the UK Government over the fate of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. Alex Salmond was responding to a memorandum signed by the UK and Libya over prisoner transfers.
In an emergency statement at Holyrood, Mr Salmond said he had expressed "concern" to Prime Minister Tony Blair. However, a spokesman for Mr Blair said no deal has been signed over the future of al-Megrahi. The Libyan was found guilty and jailed for life in 2001 for killing 270 people in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
Mr Salmond said the memorandum had been signed on 29 May but "at no stage" was the Scottish government made aware of it beforehand.
Legal review
Addressing MSPs, he said: "The memorandum of understanding deals with judicial co-operation on matters of law, extradition and on the issue of prisoner transfer."
The first minister reminded politicians that al-Megrahi's case was being reviewed by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which could send his case back to appeal judges in Edinburgh.
A spokesman for the prime minister said a deal covering Libyan prisoner exchange was reached between the PM and the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi. However, the spokesman added that no agreement had been reached over the future of al-Megrahi because he is the subject of a legal review.
When asked if after that review al-Megrahi could be returned to serve his sentence in Libya, the spokesman would not be drawn.
See also
An orthodox account of the PANAM 103 tragedy at Locherbie
Alternative theories into the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
Lockerbie revisited - was PANAM 103 shot down from the ground?
A primer on Scots law and the Pan Am 103 bombing trial
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