London  - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Wednesday that the government told Libya it did not wish the Lockerbie bomber to "die in prison."

Miliband, asked about the growing controversy over the release from jail of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi two weeks ago, said it was correct that the Libyans had been told London was "not actively seeking" al-Megrahi's death in prison.

Miliband confirmed an admission made late Tuesday by Bill Rammell, a former Foreign Office minister, that he had relayed to Libyan officials in February the British view that neither Prime Minister Gordon Brown nor Miliband wished al-Megrahi to pass away in jail.

"He spoke the truth. We did not want him to die in prison," Miliband told the BBC in an interview.

However, Miliband added that London put "no pressure" on the regional government of Scotland to free al-Megrahi, who is terminally ill with prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds on August 20.

"Al-Megrahi's release was not in the gift of the British government," said Miliband.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been criticized for insisting that his government did not interfere in the affair, and for refusing to say whether he believed the decision to free the prisoner was right or wrong.

He has been accused of "double dealing" to protect business interests with Libya.

Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan agent, was sentenced to life in 2001 for the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in which 270 people died - 189 of them US citizens. (dpa)