Lockerbie bomber

[revwardoc]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...aths-door.html

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door'

The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is living with his family in a luxury villa in Libya six months after he was released from jail on compassionate grounds because he had less than three months to live.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, no longer receives hospital treatment after ending the course of chemotherapy that he had been given after returning to his homeland last August.

Professor Karol Sikora, the London-based doctor who examined Megrahi and predicted he would be dead by last October, admitted this weekend that the fact the bomber is still alive might be "difficult" for the families of the 270 victims of the attack.

The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in mid air over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground.

Most did not want Megrahi released and they suspected he would live longer than the predicted three months.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed last September that the Libyan government had paid for the medical evidence which helped Megrahi, 57, to be released. The Libyans had encouraged doctors to say he had only three months to live.

The life expectancy of Megrahi was crucial because, under Scottish rules, prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds only if they are considered to have this amount of time, or less, to live.

Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, ruled last August that Megrahi should be freed. Megrahi's release came after Libyan leaders warned that lucrative oil and trade deals with Britain would be cancelled if the bomber died in jail.

One leading prostate cancer specialist cast serious doubt yesterday on the wisdom of predicting that Megrahi had only three months to live – when a patient still had to undergo chemotherapy. Dr Chris Parker said it was extremely difficult to give an accurate prognosis for individual patients. "Studies show experts are very poor at trying to predict how long an individual patient will live for," he warned.

Megrahi received the chemotherapy drug Docetaxel – trade name Taxotere – shortly after returning to Libya.

Dr Parker, who is with the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: "The average prognosis for survival after Docetaxel would be 12 months.

"It can vary enormously but it would be very unusual to live beyond two years."

Doctors in Libya supply monthly medical reports to Scottish authorities who can speak to Megrahi whenever they want. The conditions of his early release stipulate he must not leave Libya.

Megrahi, is now living in a spacious two-storey villa with his wife and their five grown-up children in a prosperous suburb of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

The property has a spacious garden and an area where the family erects a large tent to entertain visitors for celebrations.

The property has a security gate and there is often a uniformed police officer sitting on a white chair outside.

The Megrahis, who are part of a prominent tribe, are well off and it is understood that his family was paid substantial compensation by the Libyan Government after he was jailed for life.

They are known to have urged Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, to get Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent, freed from his jail.

Prof Sikora, one of the examining doctors who was paid a consultancy fee last July to examine Megrahi, told The Sunday Telegraph this weekend: "My information from Tripoli is that it's not going to be long [before Megrahi dies].

"They stopped any active treatment in December and he has just been going downhill very slowly at home. He is on high doses of morphine [a painkiller] and it's any day now."

Prof Sikora said that he suspected that Megrahi was still alive because he had received a "psychological" boost from returning to his homeland and being reunited with his family.

"It's stimulated him to have a remarkable [short-term] recovery," he said. "It's difficult. The choice offered by the letter of the law was either three months to live, or nothing. You couldn't have a sliding scale."

Some prostate cancer patients have lived for years longer that their doctors predicted.

Prof Sikora said it was just possible that Megrahi would be alive in several years time but added: "It's highly unlikely. There is a 90 per cent chance he will die in the next few weeks.

"He is relatively young and has very aggressive, fast-moving disease."

Megrahi has always denied any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing. He withdrew his second appeal against conviction just two days before he was allowed to return to Libya.

Those close to him say he did so reluctantly because he was convinced it would improve his chances of being freed from a Scottish jail.

Megrahi could have been released on compassionate grounds without dropping his appeal – but he could not have been freed under a prisoner exchange programme if legal action was ongoing.

Until the last moment, the authorities made it clear they were considering both options.

Professor Sikora had a message to the relatives of the Lockerbie tragedy who are angered by Megrahi's release: "The quality of his life is not good – he is a dying man.

"Quite frankly, as an act of mercy, it is better that he dies at home rather than in prison."

However, one source involved in monitoring Megrahi's health suggested the bomber's condition has got no worse in the past six months.

The source said: "Megrahi is still the same as ever. His condition has not deteriorated. There is no sign of him dying any time yet but who knows? It's totally unpredictable."

[darrels joy]

Lockerbie Bomber Gets A Birthday Party

From the UK’s Daily Mail:

Megrahi, left, with Colonel Gaddafi’s second son Saif.

Birthday party for Lockerbie bomber … five months after doctors said he would be dead

By Mail Foreign Service
1 April 2010

The freed Lockerbie bomber will today celebrate his birthday in a Libyan mansion - almost eight months after the ‘dying’ man was released from prison.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi is said to have made a ‘remarkable recovery’ after being allowed to return home from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds last year.

The prostate cancer sufferer will ‘quietly mark’ his 58th birthday in Tripoli with family, friends and Libyan government officials who will be ‘enjoying a dignified celebration and thanking God for his survival’…

Since returning to the love of family and friends he has made a remarkable recovery.’

The freed bomber has continued radiotherapy in Libya, where the government funds his accommodation, care and provides for his family.

‘Combined with alternative therapies, and a less stressful situation, it is little surprise that Brother Al-Megrahi has improved,’ the source added. ‘Clearly he is still very weak, and spends all of his days housebound, but he is far better than can be expected.’

Members of the ruling Gaddafi family were said to be ‘certain to send their best wishes’ to Al-Megrahi…

Dr Swire said his survival could be explained by the benefits of returning home to his family or the treatment he has received in Libya.

Megrahi is viewed as a national hero by Libyans and some 30,000 well-wishers are said to have visited him since August.
Many have also sent birthday wishes, as well as presents ranging from books to food. Queues of pilgrims still form outside his home.

Megrahi spends most of his time propped up in bed, working on an autobiography that he hopes will help clear his name.

His brother, Mohammed Ali, said: ‘He is greatly loved by Libyans. If God wills it he will remain with his people.’

Another outrage that no longer outrages.

Think how much our sensibilities have been dulled in just a few short years.

http://sweetness-light.com/archive/l...birthday-party

[darrels joy]

Surprise! Lockerbie Bomber Is Not Sick – May Live 10 Years

Posted by Jim Hoft on Sunday, July 4, 2010, 9:15 AM

Lockerbie bomber and Libyan hero, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, is not sick and could live up to 10 years. Scottish authorities released the bomber last year after it was reported that he had cancer and did not have much time left to live.



Libyan Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, found guilty of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, top left, is accompanied by Seif al-Islam el- Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi upon his arrival at airport in Tripoli, Libya. (AP Photo)

THe AFP reported:

The Lockerbie bomber could survive for 10 years or longer, according to the cancer specialist who said last year he would be dead within three months of his release.

Professor Karol Sikora, who assessed Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi for the Libyan authorities almost a year ago, told The Sunday Times newspaper it was “embarrassing” that he had outlived his three-month prognosis.

The Scottish government provoked outrage from the United States when it released Megrahi from prison in August 2009 on compassionate grounds because he is suffering from terminal cancer.

Megrahi is the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, which left 270 people dead.

But the newspaper claimed that Sikora, the dean of medicine at Buckingham University in southern England, was the only expert the Libyan authorities could find who would agree to put the three-month estimate on Megrahi’s life.

Hat Tip K. Solomon

The Obama Administration knew about the bomber’s release “every step of the way.”

http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com...live-10-years/

[revwardoc]

The Scottish government should be ashamed of themselves and the people of Lockerbie and the relatives of those killed should protest in the strongest possible terms. And the CIA should send someone over there to shoot that SOB!