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Now that Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is in the grave, will there everbe answers to the controversies that surrounded him? Megrahi wasthe only man convicted of the 1988 bomb attack on PanAm Flight 103,which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland and killed 270 people. Hedied at his home in the Libyan capital on Sunday, nearly threeyears after he was freed from a Scottish prison allegedly oncompassionate grounds, having been declared to be on the verge ofdeath from the ravages of prostate cancer. Apart from the questionover the wonder drug that seems to have prolonged Megrahi's life,there is still outrage over whether he was freed in exchange forlucrative British oil concessions; and whether Megrahi, a formerLibyan intelligence official, was merely a scapegoat and shouldn'thave been convicted in the first place. In an international trial in 2001 held in the Netherlands, Megrahiwas convicted of bringing down the Boeing 747, in what was then theworst terrorist attack against Westerners until 9/11. He wassentenced to 27 years, and jailed in Scotland. But in a stunningabout-turn in August 2009, Scottish officials freed Megrahi andallowed him to fly home to Tripoli on a Libyan government jet,personally escorted by Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam.Scottish officials have always insisted that they freed Megrahipurely on medical grounds, since doctors — albeit includingexperts hired by the Gaddafi regime — declared that he hadjust three months to live. (PHOTOS: The Lockerbie Bombing) For Gaddafi's Libya, Megrahi's homecoming was a pivotal moment,securing Saif's status as his father's heir and allowing thedictator to trumpet the release as a victory over Western foes. Inan interview at his home in Tripoli in 2010, Saif told TIME he had"worked very hard" to get Megrahi released. "I am very proud of it,because I think he is innocent and he is very ill," he told me. "Itis one of my biggest achievements, personally." And then, in 2011,a Libyan uprising turned into a revolution that ended the decadeslong rule of the Gaddafis. There are few left alive to tell the real story behind Lockerbie.Gaddafi is, of course, dead. And his veteran oil minister ShokriGhanem died mysteriously in Vienna last month, never havingdisclosed whether an oil deal was behind Megrahi's freedom. OnlySaif al-Islam Gaddafi may have the answers. Libyan officials toldTIME in Tripoli earlier this month that Saif would be brought tocourt later this year. But, for now, he is a prisoner of a Libyanmilitia and in a secret location, in spite of demands by theInternational Criminal Courts that he be remanded to The Hague fortrial. Was Megrahi's freedom linked to a petroleum deal? Several U.S.officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, havequestioned whether Megrahi was freed in order to smooth the way forhuge British deals in oil-rich Libya. The British certainly had alot banking on Libyan cooperation. In 2007, BP signed a$900-million oil and gas exploration contract. But as Libyanofficials delayed the ratification of BP's contract, companyofficials lobbied the British government for help. In a statementin July, 2010, BP said it had told British officials that it wasconcerned about the "slow progress" of a prisoner transfer swapunder discussion with Libyan officials. "We were aware that thiscould have a negative impact on U.K. commercial interests,including the ratification by the Libyan government of BP'sexploration agreement," the BP statement said. In his interviewearlier in 2010, Saif told me that Libyan officials had repeatedlyrefused British requests to exclude Megrahi from the list of Libyanprisoners being considered for release. When Scotland decided tofree Megrahi, BP distanced itself from the move, simply stating,"It is not for BP to comment on the decision of the Scottishgovernment." Nevertheless, BP's deal was ratified within weeks ofMegrahi's return to Libya. (MORE: Gaddafi's Downfall: Families of Lockerbie Victims ExpressRelief) The rumpus over Megrahi's release obscured another issue. Was he infact innocent? Megrahi has protested his innocence from the start,intimating that he was the fall guy in a far bigger political drama(A codefendent, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah was acquitted in the 2001trial). The fathers of two British victims, who sat through thetrial in the Netherlands, have told journalists, including TIME,that they believe Megrahi was innocent. "I came away 80 to 90%convinced that this man was not guilty," John Mosey, whose19-year-old daughter died aboard PanAm 103, told me in 2010. "Itwas very clear that there was political interference." Likewise,Jim Swire, whose 24-year-old daughter was killed in the attack, hasfought a long campaign to reopen the investigation, believing thatMegrahi was innocent. For its part, Gaddafi never admitted to Libya's involvement inLockerbie, instead agreeing to pay $270 million to families of thevictims as part of a deal with U.S. officials to end sanctions— not, Gaddafi insisted, as an admission of guilt. That leftsome to wonder whether Gaddafi offered Megrahi up as a sacrificiallamb, for the sake of a lucrative relationship with Westerncountries, which invested billions in Libya during Gaddafi's lastfew years, when relations warmed between Tripoli and the West. (MORE: With Gaddafi (Nearly) Gone Terrorism Victims Seek Justice,Or Compensation) As he lay dying, Megrahi, barely able to speak any longer, againasserted his innocence last December in his last videotapedinterview, which was included in an Al-Jazeera documentary,"Lockerbie: Case Closed." "I am an innocent man," he told a Britishformer police officer George Thomson, who believed Megrahi had beenframed. "I am about to die and I ask now to be left in peace withmy family." Family members said he had been treated with a new cancer drugcalled abiraterone, which was approved by the U.S. Food and DrugAdministration in April, 2011. Britain's National Health Serviceallowed its use only last week, after the news that Megrahi hadbeen taking it caused a furor in the British press over itsunavailability at home. MORE: Five Questions About the Lockerbie Bomber's Release. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Gold Purity Analyzer Manufacturer , China Gold Testing Machines for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Edxrf Spectrometer.
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