LONDON — The Scottish government said Wednesday that a final decision had been made on whether to release the Libyan prisoner convicted in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie in December 1988, and there were strong signs that the prisoner, Abdel Basset Ali-al-Megrahi, would be flown home to Libya today.
The government said only that Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill would make his decision known today. But the television channel Sky News, quoting unidentified Scottish officials, said plans were made for Megrahi, who is dying of prostate cancer, to be sent to Libya.
An official said Scottish authorities were braced for a hostile reaction in the U.S., including vigorous objections to Megrahi’s release by families of many of the 180 Americans who died in the bombing.
