EXCLUSIVE: Family asks Scotland for compassion on eve of Lockerbie anniversary
EXCLUSIVE: Family asks Scotland for compassion on eve of Lockerbie anniversary
The wife of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing today makes a direct and emotional appeal to Scottish ministers for compassion.
In her first full interview with any media organisation since Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in September, Aisha Megrahi says: "Please release him so he can spend what few days he has left at home with his family."
Last month, appeal court judges ruled that her husband should not be let out on bail while his lengthy appeal continues, provoking fears that Megrahi will die in jail before his case can be heard. Lawyers are now expected to seek his release from Greenock prison on compassionate grounds.
His wife spoke exclusively and at length to The Herald just two weeks before the 20th anniversary of the UK's deadliest terrorist attack, when 270 people died after Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie.
She describes the heartbreak of having to tell the couple's five children their 56-year-old father was dying, and now being able to see him for only 30 minutes a week, in line with prison rules.
Mrs Megrahi says: "He needs psychological support of the kind he could only get from his family. We need the help and compassion of the Scottish people."
The interview, at the family home in Newton Mearns, near Glasgow, was sanctioned by the Libyan authorities. They have backed Megrahi's legal team in mounting an appeal, while also paying millions of pounds in compensation to relatives of the Lockerbie victims and restoring international diplomatic ties with both the UK and US.
Mrs Megrahi, 46, also discusses the difficulties of playing the role of both mother and father during the nine years since her husband was taken for trial at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands and then locked up in Scotland.
Four of their five children, aged between 11 and 25, now live in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, but all have experienced Scottish life and education for some of their formative years.
In June 2007, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission referred Megrahi's case back to court for a fresh appeal based on six separate grounds which indicate it could have been a miscarriage of justice.
The appeal has since been delayed by numerous hearings and the refusal of the Crown Office to hand over a top secret document from an undisclosed foreign country thought to pertain to the timer device used to detonate the bomb.
In September, Megrahi learned he is suffering from stage four prostate cancer - the most advanced form of the disease.
Last month, his request for interim liberation was turned down by three judges in the Court of Criminal Appeal despite the "compelling case" put by his defence team and agreement that he is not a flight risk. Judges said the argument to release him was currently outweighed by the scale of the atrocity.
Megrahi's wife and family are in Scotland to visit him and last week joined campaigners in a silent vigil in Edinburgh aimed at highlighting alleged miscarriages of justice.
