Lockerbie Bomber Focus of New Tensions

"The Scottish authorities on Monday endorsed a Libyan rebel decision not to extradite Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, who was released from a Scottish prison two years ago on the ground that he was near death.

His hero’s welcome in Libya and lengthy survival have been a source of frustration to the United States, which counted 189 citizens among the bombing’s 270 dead. As the Libyan revolution has unfolded, American lawmakers and politicians have been intensifying calls for his return, hoping for a fuller accounting of the crime and the Qaddafi government’s role in it."