Lockerbie Case: Libyans Won't Deport Bomber

The Wall Street Journal 08/28/2011 07:22

In this Aug. 20, 2009 file photo, Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was found guilty of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, gestures on his arrival in Tripoli, Libya. The Libyan rebels' interim government says it will not deport the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

The Libyan rebel government won't deport the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, its justice minister said. New York senators last week asked the Libyan national transitional government to hold Abdel-Baset al-Megrahi fully accountable for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.

But the transitional government's justice minister, Mohammed al-Alagi, said Sunday in Tripoli that the request by American senators had "no meaning" because Mr. Megrahi had already been tried and convicted.

"We will not hand over any Libyan citizen. It was Gadhafi who handed over Libyan citizens," he said, referring to the government's decision to turn Mr. Megrahi over to a Scottish court for trial.

The Scottish government released Mr. Megrahi in 2009, saying it believed he would soon die of cancer. He was greeted as a hero in his native Libya and met with Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

New York Senator Charles Schumer had encouraged the new Libyan leadership to hold Mr. Megrahi accountable. "A new Libya can send a strong statement to the world by declaring it will no longer be a haven for this convicted terrorist," he said.

Scottish officials overseeing Mr. Megrahi's parole have said they want to contact him now that the fighting between Libyan forces and rebels has reached Tripoli.

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