Brown Didn't Want Lockerbie Bomber to Die in Prison

More Lockerbie troubles for Gordon Brown. Newly released documents suggest the UK prime minister didn't want Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi to die in a Scottish prison, the London Times reports. The development will further fuel speculation that Britain tacitly led the push for Megrahi's release in exchange for a cozy oil deal with Libya.

A batch of documents released today by the Scottish and UK governments include minutes of a meeting between Libyan and Scottish officials. A Libyan official present says Britain's foreign minister told him that Brown did not want Megrahi to "pass away in prison." The Libyan official also said he warned the foreign minister in February that Megrahi's death would have "catastrophic effects for the relationship between Libya and the UK." (More Kenny MacAskill stories.)