BROWN 'DIDN'T WANT MEGRAHI TO DIE IN JAIL' Claim drags PM into new Lockerbie row.

Byline: Magnus Gardham

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in a Scots jail, according to documents released yesterday.

The letters and details of meetings over the fate of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi were published by the Scottish government in a bid to calm the row over the dying Libyan's release.

But the claims over Brown's view on the matter started a new storm. And thedocumentsalso revealed thatFirst Minister Alex Salmond had discussed Megrahi's possible return to Libya in a meeting with a minister from oil-rich Qatar - two months before he was freed.

According to the documents, Libya's minister for Europe, Abdulati Alobidi, told Scots officials in March he had been informed of the Prime Minister's view by Foreign Office ministerBillRammell.

In a note of the Glasgow meeting, theofficialsrecorded:"MrAlobidiconfirmed he reiterated to Mr Rammell that the death of Mr Megrahi in a Scottish prison would have catastrophic effects for the relationship betweenLibyaandtheUK.

"Mr Alobidi went on to say Mr Rammell stated neither the PM nor the Foreign Secretary would want Mr Megrahi to pass away in prison butthe decisionontransfer lies in the handsoftheScottishministers."

Rammell did not deny the Libyan's claimlastnightbutwouldsayonlythat he had stressed to the Libyans that a final decision on Megrahi lay with ministers inEdinburgh.

Silent

He said: "I made it clear in all my dealings with the Libyans that the decision around al-Megrahi was exclusively one for the Scottish Executive and the Executivealone."

The revelations put Brown under more pressure to give his view on Megrahi's release.

Until now, he has stayed silent on the issue, insisting it was a decision forthe Scottish government .

Tory leader David Cameron demanded yesterday.: "What is the PrimeMinister'sview? "He has refused to tell us and yet, today, we know that privately, we're told, the British Government was saying to the Libyans they wanted him released - while they were saying to the American government he shouldstay in prison."

The documents were released yesterday. by the Scottish government to back up their claims that justice secretary Kenny MacAskill followed procedures in hisdecisionto releaseMegrahionAugust20.

They detail seven meetings between officials, headed by justice department chief Robert Gordon, andLibyannegotiators.

They began last October and the mostrecentwasonAugust 10.

In one meeting last November, Alobidi warned Megrahi's death in Greenock prison would be seen as a "deathsentence".

A note of the meeting said: "Mr Alobidi indicated that the situation was bad for relations between theUK andLibya.

"It would be a major problem should MrMegrahi die in prison and would be viewed as a form of death sentence.

"This would hold, even if he were to be granted compassionate release just beforedeath."

During the series of meetings, the Libyans said Megrahi was willing to abandon his appeal against his conviction if it would ease his release under the prisoner t ransfer agreement.

In June, Salmond had a meeting with a Qatari minister at which he explained Libya's application for Megrahi's transfer.

He agreed to send further information and in a letter to Qatar's ambassador in London, he revealed: "The cabinet secretary for justice is dealing with this application expeditiously."

Theplea for compassionate release hadnotbeenmadeat this stage.

Salmond also invitedQatar to send representations on the case to MacAskill and the justice secretary's lettersindicatetheoil-richstatedidso.

Megrahi, the only man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie jet bombing i n which 270 p e o p l e d i e d , was eventually released on compassionate grounds, based on medical reports that his prostate cancer could kill him within three months.

He returned to a hero'swelcome in Tripoli, sickening many Scots and sparking fury in the USA, which was hometomostofthebombingvictims.

The scenes of jubilation happened despite assurances from Alobidi made at a meeting last month and revealed in the documents .

Glare

Officials recorded that Alobidi "assured" MacAskill that "if Mr al-Megrahi were to be transferred to Libya that it would be done quietly and peacefully and away from the glareof themedia".

The documents released yesterday. include the bomber's handwritten dyingplea formercy.

He gave it to MacAskill when the justice secretary controversially visited him in Greenock Prison onAugust6.

In addition t o 150 pages o f documents released by the Scottish government, the UK Ministry of Justice and Foreign Office also published papersonthe case.

Letters between ministers in London and Edinburgh confirmthe UK Government were at pains to stress that the decision on Megrahi was one for MacAskill.

They showed UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw tried to exclude Megrahi from adealtotransferprisonersbetween BritainandLibya.

The block - which the Scottish government also wanted - was not acceptable to the Libyans.

AndStraw then wrote toMacAskill on December 19, 2007, saying it was in Britain's "overwhelming interests" to press on with the prisoner transfer deal without the exclusion. But he stressed "the ultimate decision" rested with MacAskill.

Meanwhile, letters from the Foreign Office claimed there was no "absolute commitment" to the US that Megrahi wouldserveall hissentencein Scotland.

In July this year, the Foreign Office insistedtherewasnoreasonwhyMegrahi shouldnotbereturnedtoLibyaunderthe prisoner transfer agreement, provided it waswithin Scotslaw.

Regret

The letters undermined claims by MacAskill that the Foreign Office had failed to give details of any assurance allegedly givento theUSgovernment .

WhenhefreedMegrahi,MacAskillsaid the Foreign Office had failed to co-operateandvoicedhis"regret".

Today, the Scottish government are facing defeat at Holyrood when MSPs debateMacAskill's decision.

Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie said bothSalmondandBrownhadquestions to answer.

She said: "There is now a suspicion that Gordon Brown told the Libyans he did not wantMegrahi to die in jail.

"If that is true, then it is remarkable that Mr Brown was happy to make his opinion known behind the scenes before the decisionwasmadebut he is nothappy tomake hisopinionknownafter the decision.

"The Salmond government in Scotland has also not done enough to prove that its decision to release a mass murderer wasbasedonsoundevidenceandadvice. "

Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said: "These documents show some of the discrepancies at the heart of this decision and the scale of mismanagement.

"This entireaffairhasdamagedScotland andKennyMacAskill is responsible. "

A spokesman for MacAskill said: "The documentation fully supports the justice secretary's decisions to reject the prisoner transfer agreement application and grant compassionaterelease."

Plea for freedom in hisownwords

MEGRAHI'S handwritten plea to gohomeon compassionate grounds was published yesterday.

It will be seen as a plea from a dyingmanor the last desperate bid for freedom by a convicted terrorist.

In it, he claims: "Iama very ill person. The disease that I have is incurable. All the personnel are agreed that I have little chance of living into next year."

Hesays he hasn't seen his wife and children for six months and it is more than three years since he has seen his parents.

The extent of his illness has been hidden from his mother because "I cannot predict the effect that this would have on her".

But he says he is praying every day that he will see his parents before he dies.

Heinsists that he is innocent and claims that as a familymanhe understandshowmuchthe victims' families have suffered.Hestates: "I share their frustrations.

"They continue to have mysympathy for their unimaginable loss.

"As a result of that terrible loss,someof them have feelings of hatred towards me. I certainly do not return that to them."

Hesays that neither his language nor ours could properly express the desolation he feels after being convicted ofsomething he didn't do and being "reviled by the mothers and fatherswhohave suffered so terribly".

Hecontinues: "My dreams of returninghome cleared are no more."

And he concludes: "As I turnnowto facemyGod, to stand before him, I have nothing to fear.

"As I move towards that day,myproper place, as with anyone as ill as me, is with their family and loved ones.

"Thank you, sir."

ParoleBoardbackedmove

THEScottish Parole Board agreed unanimously that Megrahi was suitable for compassionate release.

Ministers are required to consult the board before releasing a prisoner who has been given a life sentence.

And the Scottish government yesterday. published the advice they received. The document pointed out that Megrahi had not accepted any guilt.

But the board also said he had no other convictions and that his behaviour in prison had been "exemplary".

The governor of Greenock Prison, where Megrahi was held, believed he was "highly unlikely" to reoffend.Onhis medical condition, the report added: "The consensus is that the prognosis for survival is downgraded to 'months' rather than 'many months'.

"He shows signs of being in pain when going about daily living. The clinical assessment is that a threemonth survival prognosis is now applicable."

CAPTION(S):

FREEDOM: Bomber Megrahi QUESTIONS: Gordon Brown Megrahi, whohas cancer, wrote to MacAskill