Britain Urges Libya Not To Celebrate Release of Lockerbie Bomber

The British government urged Libya on Friday not to celebrate the anniversary of the convicted Lockerbie bomber's release, saying it would be "offensive and deeply insensitive to the victims' families."

Photo: Britain Urges Libya Not To Celebrate Release of Lockerbie Bomber

The statement from the British Foreign Office came exactly a year after Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison on humanitarian grounds, with doctors saying he had terminal cancer and only three months to live, CNN reports.

Al—Megrahi is the only man ever to be convicted of the bombing of a Pan Am airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December, 1988, in which 270 people died. Most of the dead were U.S. citizens.

Al—Megrahi has always denied that he was responsible. After being sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court in 2001, he was freed by the Scottish government on August 20, 2009, The Hindu says.