Scotland Defies US, Releases Lockerbie Bomber

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 20, 2009 7:51 AM CDT
Scotland Defies US, Releases Lockerbie Bomber
Libyan Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted in the bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, was freed on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya.   (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver)

The only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, has been released on compassionate grounds and will return to Libya, reports the BBC. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was sentenced to life for the murder of 270 people, but he is suffering from prostate cancer and is said to have only months to live. The Scottish regional government's decision to free Megrahi comes despite opposition from Hillary Clinton and seven US senators.
(More Lockerbie stories.)

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