Miliband admits Megrahi jail fear

Megrahi received a hero's welcome when he returned home to Libya

The UK government thought the national interest would be "damaged" if the Lockerbie bomber had died in prison, the foreign secretary has said.

Libyan Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in August.

But David Miliband told the Commons he "rejected" claims that any pressure had been applied by the UK government.

The release of Megrahi was condemned by the US government and prompted questions of a UK-Libyan deal.

The bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 resulted in the death of 270 people.

Megrahi was freed by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, leading to accusations a behind-the-scenes deal, involving the UK government, had been struck to secure it.

'Unfounded'

Mr Miliband said that, because justice was a devolved matter and therefore dealt with by the Scottish government, the decision had been "for him [Mr MacAskill] to take and for him to take alone".

He added: "The government was clear that any attempt by us to pressure the Scottish Executive would have been wrong."

He said he wanted to address the "unfounded allegation" that Britain had ignored Libya's past support for terrorism or that it had forgotten about IRA victims or the family of murdered police officer Yvonne Fletcher, shot by a gunman inside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.

The Scottish government, run by the Scottish National Party (SNP), has said the decision to release Megrahi was made on compassionate grounds, as he has terminal cancer.

Mr Miliband told MPs: "Notwithstanding that any decision on release was for Scottish ministers and the Scottish judicial system, the UK government had a responsibility to consider the consequences of any Scottish decision.

"Although the decision was not one for the UK government, British interests, including those of UK nationals, British businesses and possibly security co-operation would be damaged, perhaps badly, if Megrahi were to die in a Scottish prison rather than Libya.

"Given the risk of Libyan adverse reaction we made it clear to them both that as a matter of law and practice it was not a decision for the UK government and as a matter of policy we were not seeking Megrahi's death in Scottish custody."

US relations

But shadow foreign secretary William Hague said the Lockerbie atrocity "outweighed" any need to release Megrahi.

He told MPs: "It is our view that the release of Megrahi ... was a mistake and indeed the episode was characterised by obfuscation and confusion on the part of ministers here at Westminster and it damaged the standing of this country in the United States."

Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey asked if "it was not the case that trade came before justice" when Megrahi was released.

Megrahi was convicted of the bombing in 2001, after a trial at a specially convened court in the Netherlands.

The Scottish government released him from Greenock Prison on 20 August and allowed him to return to Libya.

Speaking in the Commons, the SNP's Westminster leader Angus Robertson, said the decision had been recommended by parole officers and had not been based "on political considerations".

A spokesman for Mr MacAskill said: "Kenny MacAskill took the right decisions for the right reasons, based on the due process of Scots law - including the recommendations of the parole board and prison governor, and the medical evidence.

"The foreign secretary has now made it clear that UK government policy was not in favour of al-Megrahi dying in Scotland.

"The UK Labour position played no role whatever in the justice secretary's decisions to reject prisoner transfer and grant compassionate release."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted there was "no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double dealing, no deal on oil".