Brown asked Gaddafy to 'act with sensitivity'
Updated on 21 August 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked Colonel Gaddafy in a letter to "act with sensitivity" when the Lockerbie bomber returned home, it emerged today.
The letter was sent yesterday, ahead of the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi from jail in Glasgow.
The prime minister made clear the decision to release the terminally-ill bomber on compassionate grounds was down to the Scottish government.
But he urged the Libyan leader to "act with sensitivity", said a Downing Street spokeswoman.
Megrahi was met with a hero's welcome by people who met the flight at Tripoli last night.
Lockerbie bomber's welcome condemned
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond tells Channel 4 News that the hero's welcome given to the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, was "insensitive and poorly advised."
Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was released after serving eight years of a life sentence for the murders of 270 people when Pan Am flight 103 crashed in 1988.
When Scotland's justice secretary Kenny MacAskill announced the decision to release Megrahi he said medical opinion suggested he has around three months to live.
But the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear she did not believe Megrahi should be released.
When Megrahi arrived in Libya's capital Tripoli hours after the announcement, people gathered on the tarmac and cheered him off the plane while several Scottish saltires were flown.
Pamela Dix, whose brother Peter died when the Pan Am jet exploded above Lockerbie in 1988, condemned the celebrations.
She said: "I think a hero's welcome is entirely inappropriate in the circumstances.
"I know the man maintains his innocence but I think discretion would have been the right thing in these circumstances. But that was probably too much to expect."
Interview: Alex Salmond
Samirah Ahmed interviewed Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond about the welcome given to the Lockerbie bomber upon arriving in Libya. He said:
"I don't agree with the reception Mr al-Megrahi was given. I think it was insensitive, it was certainly poorly advised but you know we can't control what the Libyan government or what the Libyan people do. All we are in control of is what the Scottish government and the Scottish justice system can do. And although we had to take an immensely difficult and challenging decision - I believe we took the right decision - We certainly took it for the right reasons.
When asked what he would do to solve the Lockerbie bombing, Mr Salmond replied:
"We have within our jurisdiction limited powers in terms of the questions people believe need to be answered - We don't see anything that Scotland has done in the last twenty years which is wrong. On the contrary - we praise the efforts of our prosecution service and our investigation services. We painstakingly compiled a case which was certainly circumstantial - but I believe a strong case. We believe we did the right thing, right through this process.
"The powers that you would need to investigate some of the wider aspects - the summoning of witnesses - lie beyond the juristiction of Scotland - they go into international matters. We equally make it clear that if a duly constituted authority has such an enquiry then we will give them full cooperation. We have absolutely nothing to hide in terms of the way Scotland conducted this affair"
Politicians in Scotland were also upset to the Scottish flag amid the jubilant scenes.
Russell Brown, Labour MP for Dumfries, said: "I have never been ashamed to see my country's flag waved before, but to see it misused to celebrate mass murder is outrageous.
"This man is convicted of murdering 270 people in my part of Scotland and that conviction stands.
"This adds further pressure to the SNP to explain why they have freed a man who showed no remorse for the crimes he committed.
"The SNP are damaging Scotland's reputation and have put our flag in a position where it can be abused like this."
David Mundell MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale said: "This is as we feared and why we said that Mr Megrahi should be kept in Scotland.
"Alex Salmond's government has made a mistake of international proportions."
