Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, "Lockerbie Bomber" Of Pan Am Flight 103, To Be Set Free (PHOTOS)

After days of speculation, SkyNews is reporting that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, will be released on "compassionate grounds."

Megrahi, who was given a life sentence in 2001 for 270 counts of murder, is said to be in the final stages of prostate cancer.

Enroute from London's Heathrow Airport to JFK Airport, Pan Am Flight 103 was destroyed while flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members. Eleven more people on the ground were killed by falling debris, bringing the total death toll to 270. The majority of the victims were Americans, with 40 British citizens also killed.

Check back here for more as details continue to emerge.

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Images from the 1988 bombing:

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Comments

[ibsteve2u]

03:16 PM on 08/27/2009

No sense in hating the guy; it will not bring anybody's loved ones back.

And if he is unrepentant, then your public hate will just feed him.

[Carnaig]

07:22 AM on 08/23/2009

I’m astonished and aghast at the reaction of those opposed to the release of this man. They call for justice when what they really want is retribution; for that, one needs a culprit and in the midst of grief any candidate will do. Whilst the outrage of Pan-Am relatives is understandable, that of politicians on both sides of the Atlantic is itself shameful.
The USA, which resolutely claims not to interfere in the affairs of other countries, is now openly criticising and threatening sanctions against a sovereign country which has not acceded to its wishes - I find that depressing and extremely sinister. We had all expected better from President Obama and the US people.
This talk of strength and weakness, the unmoderated anger expressed and the almost palpable air of impending violence and yet further retribution are identical to the sentiments of the terrorists who instigated this and every other outrage.
Compassion is a noble part of the human experience; it is not a commodity, to be bought and sold, granted or withheld on the demands of political expediency or popular approbation. It is the one light in a dark society; a small flame of decency amongst the excesses of a world which has largely forgotten how to behave itself.
That’s why I’m grateful to Kenny MacAsgill for making the right judgement, despite the approbrium which he must have known would follow. I am proud of him, proud of our legal system - and so intensely proud of my

[oince]

12:51 PM on 08/14/2009

All of you people wishing all the worst to this person, full of hate..you aren't any better than all of those extremist terrorists out there!! Your comments are the same that the people in other countries wish to us here in the US : death & pain!
You preach the same that the extremists preach, wishing the worst, wishing torture on this person.
You are as blind, full of hate as the terrorists are that you despic.

[kiwiman122]

04:56 PM on 09/01/2009

Not really; but it's nice to know you support a murderer.

[oince]

12:44 PM on 08/14/2009

Wow,
I see how angered and full of hate everyone here is and would love to refresh peoples memories here about the facts. In 1988 the USS Vincennes shot down an Iran Air #655 with 290 Passengers on board that was 100% in Iranian Airspace, wasn't hostile or dangerous towards the aircraft carrier at all at any time.
The US government said it was an " ACCIDENT" and never ever appologized for this monstrous act of terrorism.

On top of the murders done by the US government all of the personel on board of the USS Vincennes were decorated with Combat Action Ribbons in return. Killing all of those innocent people and being awarded in return.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655
So all of you angered here try to imagine how the relatives of all of those innocent people feel towards the US for comitting a terrorist act like that.

[Ergon]

09:33 AM on 08/14/2009

Anyhow, had fun here on this thread watching people who still believe in his guilt: they're being lied to.
Prostate cancer is highly treatable; they're just releasing him because a Scottish review shows he'd probably win on appeal.

[kiwiman122]

04:58 PM on 09/01/2009

The Libyan Government admitted to the bombing......how would he ever win an appeal.

Think BP oil..........there big guy

[Ergon]

07:08 PM on 09/01/2009

The LIbyan government did NOT plead guilty. Please stop regurgitating the official story.
http://www.david-morrison.org.uk/libya/libya-not-guilty.htm

"The Libyan Prime Minister, Shukri Ghanem, gave an interview to the Today programme on Radio 4 on 24 February (transcript here), and blurted out the awful truth that Libya has not accepted responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing in December 1988, nor for the killing of policewoman Yvonne Fletcher in April 1984.

Lockerbie

As regards the Lockerbie bombing, he said that Libya had paid compensation in order to buy peace, not because it was guilty.
Q: So payment of compensation didn't mean any acceptance of guilt?
A: I agree with that, and this is why I said we bought peace.
There is nothing new in this: Colonel Gaddafi explained the decision to pay compensation in those terms last year. But the British people were not supposed to know that Libya had not made an admission of guilt. Fortunately, Mr Ghanem let the cat out of the bag on Today"

[ThankGodforAtheists]

11:52 AM on 08/13/2009

Unbelievable...

[InLosAngeles]

11:42 AM on 08/13/2009

You lay down w/ dogs......

It doesn't bother me one wit that a known terrorist has been incarcerated for a crime he most likely committed. However if he didn't commit this one, but was only involved in the planning or the securing of funding indirectly for many others and got away scot free until then, so be it. Pardon me if I don't wring my hands w/ self doubt.

When fishing in a pond stocked heavily w/ terrorists, sometimes a grenade is the best bait.

[sturzl]

10:47 AM on 08/13/2009

Wow, about 8 years for 270 people works out to about 10 days for every man, woman and child he killed. Let the SOB rot in jail.

[goldcoastsailor]

10:40 AM on 08/13/2009

Compassion = euthanasia

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

10:31 AM on 08/13/2009

Why compassion? How do we know he will not mastermind something with his last dying breath?

[Michael Albright]

10:31 AM on 08/13/2009

Let him go, we'll visit him at the hospital, "C'mon Smith, C'mon Wesson, time to pack and go for a visit".

[Ergon]

07:55 PM on 08/13/2009

C'mon Playstation, time to work out our violent fantasies.

[Ergon]

10:27 AM on 08/13/2009

"The US government's presence in Lebanon is not to be taken lightly according to Lester Coleman, a self-employed freelance writer, editor and security consultant who once moonlighted as a DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) covert intelligence officer when he was called to serve.Coleman, age 47, told the London Times that for six years he worked as an intelligence officer with the secret unit, Middle East Collection 10 (MC10) in Cyprus, running a network of agents in Beirut whose mission was to find American hostages held by extremists.

Coleman was paid in travelers checks sent from the Luxembourg branch of the now collapsed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).
...
Coleman explained that the DEA, with the narcotics squad of the Cypriot national police, the German BKA police and British customs, ran a "drug sting operation" through Cyprus and airports in Europe, including Frankfurt.

The operation involved delivering heroin from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon to the United States; the operation was codenamed "Khourah."Coleman maintained that Pan Am Flight 103 was being used by the DEA as a "controlled delivery" flight.

After the explosion, the Beirut end of MC10 had obviously been "blown."There were five key members of the MC10 cell in Cyprus and Beirut, one of whom was Lester Coleman.
...
Danny Casolaro had contacted Coleman in Sweden on August 3, 1991, seven days before his death in Martinsburg, West Virgnia.

[VincentOMoh]

07:49 PM on 08/25/2009

Lester Coleman is NOT to be trusted.

Coleman admitted in a New York federal court that he LIED about what he said about the Pan Am case and pleaded guilty to five counts of perjury: See "Informer Admits Lying In Pan Am Crash Case" - The New York Times - Friday, September 12, 1997

He lied about everything about PA 103 and the admission and conviction proves it.

[vippy]

10:17 AM on 08/13/2009

People, ask yourself why was the CIA on the site even before the British could get there? Nothing is as we are always made to believe.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

10:12 AM on 08/13/2009

Wait a minute -- how do we know his "prostate cancer" isn't a scam?

[martiniandabotoxchaser]

10:29 AM on 08/13/2009

Do I smell conspiracy theory?

[stencil62]

10:10 AM on 08/13/2009

He was not compassionate to the people he killed. Why should we be? I don't understand this.

[Ergon]

10:29 AM on 08/13/2009

Because you need to learn how to read. He's innocent.

[Passenger57]

11:37 AM on 08/13/2009

I read about the case - this guy got railroaded, scapegoated, whatever you want to call it.