London - Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi has applied for interim liberation pending the outcome of an appeal, British media reported Friday.

The former Libyan intelligence agent, 56, is suffering from prostate cancer and was temporarily transferred from his prison cell in Greenock, Scotland last month to hospital.

Al-Megrahi is serving a life sentence for the bombing of a US Pan Am flight in 1988, which killed 270 people.

A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted him in 2001 of the bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

Al-Megrahi lost an appeal in 2002, but in June the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission referred his case back to appeal judges for a second time.

His new appeal is due to be heard next year. Arguments over his interim bail application will be heard in Edinburgh next week. (dpa)