Lockerbie Bomber Missing: Al-Megrahi Can't Be Reached, Reports Times

UK authorities do not know where convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi is. According to The Times, the Libyan national convicted of in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that ultimately killed 270 in Scotland, has not been in touch with UK authorities, as mandated upon release:

Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.

Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.

Megrahi was freed from the UK's Greenock Prison in Scotland in August 2009 on compassionate grounds. UK Officials said that Megrahi was suffering from terminal prostate cancer and the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing soon returned to a hero's welcome in Libya

The Times' Health Editor Sam Lister reports that Megrahi has not made recent visits to the hospital for his chemotherapy treatments and wonders what the convicted man's status could be. Lister's analysis:

Al-Megrahi is younger than the average sufferer at stage 4 and the same type of cancer can grow at different rates in different people. What can be said with some certainty, however, is that a prolonged stay away from hospital is unlikely to be a positive sign.

Comments

[AndyB62]

06:11 PM on 12/16/2009

Seriously, the Brits are suprised that this guy isn't calling them? Nobody could see this coming? We all better pray this guy doesn't decide to blow another airliner out of the sky. Thanks England.

[EuroMom]

05:01 PM on 12/18/2009

They're not surprised, They know he won't call. He has stage 4 cancer. Who couldn't see what coming? -- you mean the commercial airliner that was "mistaken" for a f1gther jet? Medals all round, boys. And no apologies. Thanks America.

[blueskybigstar]

01:43 PM on 12/16/2009

He was not released on "compassionate grounds'. This is a lie. He was released because of new evidence that pointed to his innocence. He had a fatal form of cancer and he was given the choice of pursuing his case or going home to see friends and family before he died. He chose the latter.

Look up Susan Lindauer to learn more about this case.

[EuroMom]

02:36 PM on 12/16/2009

Officially he was. Compassionate grounds for release really do exist in the Scottish legal system. Admittedly, though, he was released on condition that he drop his appeal. And yes, I agree with you: I believe that an appeal would have proved extremely embarassing for the US and the UK. So this was the solution.

[blueskybigstar]

11:01 PM on 12/16/2009

Yeah, drop your appeal and we will let you go on compassionate grounds for not proving your innocence. fanned.

[daxster4]

10:26 AM on 12/16/2009

good riddence

[jojojo]

10:00 AM on 12/16/2009

It's dreadful that he was released, but of course that's nothing compared to the outrage that Bush let Kadaffi, and Libya, off the hook and lifted sanctions.

[EuroMom]

11:02 AM on 12/16/2009

... and where is the outrage at the sh00ting down of an Ir@nian passenger aircraft just a few months before, with the loss of 290 lives -- for which no-one was ever punished?

[samaire]

09:23 AM on 12/16/2009

Good, say hello to everyone in hell

[blan]

08:11 AM on 12/16/2009

Prostate cancer, stage 4. No returning for chemo? He is dead.

[DannyEV]

07:34 AM on 12/16/2009

sorry to have to say it but from what I've learned about governments--and our government--over the years, it would not surprise me if he was telling the truth when he denied involvement in the incident. Why, we've got a facility in Cuba that has housed thousands of men who...well, you get the idea.

[Ira7]

08:23 AM on 12/16/2009

If he didn't do it, why the hero's welcome?

[EuroMom]

08:30 AM on 12/16/2009

For the same reason that people cheered when two young American reporters returned from N. Korea -- because they believed he had been wrongly imprisoned in a foreign country and were celebrating his release

[davidariley]

08:55 AM on 12/16/2009

for the same reason mandela got one after 27 years in prison.

[ubatuba]

08:23 AM on 12/16/2009

I totally agree. Frankly, if roles were reversed and another country held a US citizen who Americans deemed to be innocent...that citizen would get a heros welcome upon return. Al-Megrahi's hero's welcome did not offend nor surprise me. They consider him innocent and wrongly accused. Without proof...how do we know? Move on, I say.

[MrsFonebone]

07:19 AM on 12/16/2009

That's some serious security there, and an incredibly stupidity point of view: We trust him, we'll call him and check in.

The free world will never understand terrorists, until they stop assuming terrorists have the same values they have.

[ArkayMI]

09:55 AM on 12/16/2009

You mean the values as exhibited By Bush and Cheney at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, etc.

[SeanOcali]

06:53 AM on 12/16/2009

I don't agree with him being released, but it seems all that outrage was pointless. How long did he live a free man? I think football started before he was released.

[VA Lady2008]

06:44 AM on 12/16/2009

Given the horrible details of the crime, and the unsavory, disingenuous and utterly dishonest behavior of both the Scots and the Libyan governments, I think it just as likely that our convicted murderer is living the high life somewhere.

Tho it is not a Christian thing to even think, if he's dead, I hope he died hard. I'll save my tears for the 270 souls, either aboard the flight or on the ground, that he willfully murdered.

[ubatuba]

08:24 AM on 12/16/2009

He is considered an innocent skape goat by a large percentage of the world. Who are you to be his judge and jury? Considering US, UK, Scottish and many other governments' dishonest, covert actions, we will never know the truth.

[EuroMom]

08:42 AM on 12/16/2009

Many people, including some of the families of the victims, believe he was innocent.

[KMFIX]

04:22 AM on 12/16/2009

If he's not dead.. Why isn't he chipped with a GPS?

[Oleg1]

04:01 AM on 12/16/2009

Hopefully. Although about 20 years too late.

[Kasanne]

03:50 AM on 12/16/2009

Have they tried calling Muammar Ghadafi? They could be having breakfast together.