The British government on Tuesday published correspondence with the Scottish government in a bid to refute allegations that the Lockerbie bomber's release was linked to a trade deal.
The letters were made public on the website of the British Foreign Ministry after the Sunday Times reported the British government had pushed for the Scottish Executive to release the man because discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had met difficulties, which were resolved soon afterwards.
Abdelbasset Megrahi was formally released on Aug. 20 in Edinburgh, where he had been jailed on charges of murdering 270 people, including 189 Americans when a Pan Am plane blew up over Lockerbie, southern Scotland, in December 1988.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the man, who had terminal cancer, was allowed to return home to die after serving eight years of a 27-year minimum sentence.
The correspondence showed that the transfer of Al-Megrahi was a decision for Scottish Ministers. The July 3 letter made clear that "the decision in relation to such a request is a matter for Scottish Ministers."
The correspondence also made clear that no attempt was made to steer the Scottish Executive in any direction. The Aug. 3 letter made clear that officials of the British Foreign Ministry were "not making representations on whether Megrahi ought to be transferred to Libya."
In both his statements of June 19 and June 24, MacAskill confirmed that the final decision was his alone.
The letters were written in response to requests by the Scottish Executive for advice by the Foreign Ministry on whether there were any international legal reasons why Megrahi might not be transferred under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, should Scottish Ministers decide to do so.
The letters show this request and the responses were entirely normal practice in view of the Foreign Ministry's responsibility for the British foreign policy.
The Foreign Ministry provided an authoritative view that there was no international legal bar to transfer should the Scottish Executive decide to approve a request.
The government said redactions in the letters related solely to U.S. views expressed through confidential diplomatic exchanges and had been made in consultation with the U.S. government. The name of a Foreign Office official had also been removed.
Megrahi reportedly flew out of Britain as a dying man deserving of compassion and landed in Libya as a national hero when thousands of people gathered at Tripoli airport to welcome him as he stepped down from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's private jet.
(Xinhua News Agency September 2, 2009)
