TRIPOLI, Libya — The rebel government will not deport the man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, its justice minister said Sunday.
New York senators on Aug. 22 asked the rebel leaders to hold Abdel-Baset al-Megrahi fully accountable for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people.
But the transitional government Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi told journalists in Tripoli that the request by American senators had “no meaning” because al-Megrahi already had been tried and convicted.
The Scottish government released al-Megrahi in 2009, believing he would soon die of cancer. He was greeted as a hero in his native Libya.
The rebels’ resolve to protect the former officer may prove only briefly relevant. Just hours after the official spoke, CNN reported that al-Megrahi was near death at his villa in the capital, broadcasting images of a frail man lying comatose in an oxygen mask.
