Britain denies business link to Lockerbie bomber's release
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The British government denied on Saturday that there was any business deal between the UK government and Libya on the release of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.
"There is absolutely no question whatsoever ... of a brokered deal or no agreement between the Libyan government or the British government," British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said.
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Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi holds his prisoner release papers as he walks toward the airplane at Glasgow International Airport, Glasgow Scotland bound for Tripoli, after he was released on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill Thursday Aug. 20, 2009. [Xinhua] |
He added that to suggest any deal had been done over Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only person convicted for the 270 deaths in the bombing of an airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, was "offensive".
"It's not only completely wrong to make such a suggestion, it's also quite offensive," he said.
A spokesman of Britain's Foreign Office also said that "no deal has been made between the UK government and Libya in relation to Megrahi and any commercial interests."
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Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi (R) is helped by relatives as he walks down the stairs upon his arrival at airport in Tripoli August 20, 2009..[Xinhua] |
"There is no deal -- all decisions relating to Megrahi's case have been exclusively for Scottish ministers, the Crown Office in Scotland and the Scottish judicial authorities," the spokesman said.
Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of killing 270 people -- 189 of them American -- when a Pan Am plane was blew up over Lockerbie in December 1988. He was released on last Thursday because of his terminal prostate cancer.
(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2009)
