Britain Editor, Economist magazine
Britain Editor for Economist magazine
PROFILE
Merril Stevenson
Guest
FROM Merril Stevenson
To the Point
Convicted Bomber Released but Lockerbie Case Far from Over In 2001, Scottish judges convicted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and sentenced him to a minimum of 27 years for planting the bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 that killed 270 people in 1988. Two weeks ago, he was released and returned to Libya on compassionate grounds. According to Libyan officials, al-Megrahi, who's suffering from terminal prostate cancer, doesn't have long to live in a hospital in Tripoli. But the controversy surrounding his release from a Scottish prison isn't ending, with accusations growing that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pressured Scottish authorities for al-Megrahi's release to help improve relations with oil-rich Libya. What role did oil companies play? Did Britain break a promise to the US? What effect does al-Megrahi's release have on relations between the West and the Arab world?
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