Scots wanted to keep Lockerbie bomber in jail, poll shows

Scots wanted to keep Lockerbie bomber in jail, poll shows London  - The row over the release of the Lockerbie bomber was reignited Friday as an opinion poll showed that a majority of people in Scotland believed the Libyan man convicted of the airliner bomber should have been kept in jail.

The findings of the ICM Research poll for the BBC showed that 60 per cent of those questioned believed it was wrong to free Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, while 57 per cent thought he should have stayed in prison until he died.

Only 32 per cent thought it was the right decision.

An astonishing 74 per cent of the 1,000 people asked said they believed the decision by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to free the Libyan on health ground had damaged Scotland's reputation abroad.

The poll came after a call Friday by Saif al-Islam Gadaffi, the son of Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi Friday, that Lockerbie should now be "history" and Britain and Libya should expand trade relations.

There had been a direct link between trade interest and an Anglo- Libyan prisoner transfer agreement which came into force at the end of April this year, Gaddafi's son claimed.

In an interview published by The Herald newspaper in Glasgow, Scotland, he said the "deal in the desert" which was signed in 2004 during a visit to Libya by former British prime minister Tony Blair "specifically targeted" the prisoner.

Al-Megrahi, who is suffering from cancer, was freed from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds on August 20, sparking a furious row between Britain and the US.

He was sentenced to life in 2001 for the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in which 270 people died - 189 of them Americans.

"For the last seven to eight years we have been trying very hard to transfer Mr Megrahi to Libya to serve his sentence here and we have tried many times in the past to sign the PTA (prisoner transfer agreement) without mentioning Mr Megrahi, but it was obvious we were targeting Mr Megrahi and the PTA was on the table all the time," said Gaddafi's son.

"It was part of the bargaining deal with the UK. When Blair came here we signed the agreement. We didn't mention Mr Megrahi. We signed an oil deal at the same time. The commerce and politics and deals were all with the PTA."

Last week, British business secretary Peter Mandelson rejected as "offensive" suggestions that al-Megrahi's release was linked to trade interests.

The British government has said it had not "interfered" with the decision to release al-Megrahi, who is suffering from cancer, which was entirely one for the regional government of Scotland to take.

However, the Libyan leader's son also tried to calm the row over the release by saying that he apologized for "any perception that the Libyan government had not done its best to contain the jubilant scenes that accompanied Megrahi's arrival in Libya."

He revealed that Megrahi would play no role in celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of Gaddafi's ascent to power next week.

"Lockerbie is history. The next step is fruitful and productive business with Edinburgh and London. Libya is a promising, rich market and so let's talk about the future," he said.

"There is no reason for people to be angry. Why be so angry? This is an innocent man who is dying," said the son of the Libyan leader in what was described as an "exclusive interview" held near Tripoli.  (dpa)