British interests sparked 'Lockerbie bomber u-turn'

The British government decided two years ago it was "in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom" to make the Lockerbie bomber eligible for return to Libya, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw dropped his attempt to exclude Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya because of "wider negotiations" with that country, it said, citing leaked letters.

The newspaper said Straw's decision came after discussions between Libya and BP over a massive oil exploration deal became bogged down. The oil deal was resolved soon afterwards.

BP denied political factors played a role in the oil deal's ratification, while Straw said in response that the negotiations referred to attempts to bring Libya back into the international fold.

He also noted that in the event, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released Megrahi from jail this month on compassionate grounds because he has terminal cancer, not as part of the prison transfer agreement.

Nelson Mandela, the former South African president who helped persuade Libya to hand over Megrahi to stand trial in 2000, backed his release in a letter sent to the Scottish government on Friday, Scottish officials revealed.

However, the Sunday Times disclosures will raise questions about Britain's stance on the release of the only person convicted for killing 270 people when a Pan Am jet was blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

London has insisted the decision was made solely by the semi-autonomous Scottish authorities and rejected allegations that Megrahi was granted freedom as part of a deal to help facilitate contracts with oil-rich Libya.

In a letter to MacAskill dated July 26, 2007, Straw said he favoured an option to omit Megrahi from the prison transfer agreement by stipulating that any prisoners convicted before a specified date would be ineligible.

Five months later, Straw changed his decision as Libya used its deal with BP as a bargaining chip to insist the Lockerbie bomber was included, the newspaper said.

Straw wrote to MacAskill on December 19, 2007, saying: "I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement.

"I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.

"The wider negotiations are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the (prisoner transfer agreement) should be in the standard form and not mention any individual."

Within six weeks of this letter, the oil exploration deal was finally ratified by Libya, the Sunday Times reported.

In a statement responding to the report, Straw said the proposed exclusion of Megrahi from the prisoner transfer agreement had been dropped because "it went beyond the standard form".

"The negotiations over a prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) were part of a wider agreement for the normalisation of relations with Libya as part of bringing them into the international community," he said.

"It was always made clear to the Libyans that, as with all other such agreements, the sentencing jurisdiction -- in this case Scotland -- had a right to veto any individual application including that of any application from Mr Megrahi."

He said that despite British efforts to secure an exclusion for Megrahi, "such an exclusion went beyond the standard form of PTA treaties".

"And in the event an agreement for a PTA in the standard form -- including the rights of veto of any application -- was agreed," he said.

Straw added: "All this, however, is academic as Mr Megrahi was not released under the PTA treaty but quite separately by the Scottish Executive on compassionate grounds."