Lockerbie bombing: Victims' families fury at Megrahi's release

Scottish ministers have apparently been persuaded that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, 57, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, has only weeks to live.

He is expected to be freed next week to return home to his family, and could be back in Libya in time for the start of Ramadan on Friday.

The decision has left American relatives "dumbfounded", while politicians warned that it could be a "catastrophic" move by Alex Salmond and his Scottish National Party administration.

US families who lost loved ones called the development "vile and unforgivable" and said the Libyan should "rot in jail".

Their reaction was in stark contrast to the view of British relatives, who are largely convinced of Megrahi's innocence.

Dr Jim Swire, the veteran Lockerbie campaigner who lost his daughter Flora, said he did not believe the Libyan was guilty, adding: "The sooner he is back home with his family the better. I think it would be inhumane and downright cruel to keep him in jail."

The intelligence agent was convicted in 2001 of the murder of 259 passengers and crew on Pan Am Flight 103, and 11 people on the ground in the market town of Lockerbie.

He has served only eight years of a minimum sentence of 27 years - less than two weeks for each of his victims.

The Scottish Executive said no final decision had been made, but Kenny MacAskill, the SNP justice minister, is said to be "minded" to free him within days.

He paid an unprecedented and controversial visit to Megrahi in Greenock prison last week.

There is a legal convention that prisoners are only freed on compassionate grounds if they have less than three months to live. If the Libyan is released and lives for much longer, the case is certain to trigger an international row.

He has always protested his innocence and was the only person convicted of the atrocity after his co-accused was acquitted at a trial in a special Scottish court sitting in Holland in 2001.

The Libyan authorities have asked for his release on compassionate grounds, and have also submitted a separate request for his transfer to a Libyan jail.

Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister, signed a controversial prisoner transfer agreement after meeting Col Muammar Gaddafi in 2007.

Mr Blair had previously marked the thawing of relations with Libya by shaking hands with the Libyan leader after BP signed a new oil contract.

The country paid compensation for the Lockerbie bombing as part of the price for its international rehabilitation.

If Megrahi is freed because he is dying ill, his second appeal - granted after an independent body said he may be the victim of a miscarriage of justice - can continue after his death.

Tam Dalyell, the former Labour MP who was instrumental in persuading the Libyan authorities to hand over Megrahi, welcomed the news.

He is also convinced of Megrahi's innocence and has long argued that he was no more than a sanctions-buster for Libyan Arab Airlines. He maintains the bombing was instigated by Iran in revenge for the accidental shooting down of a Libyan airline by the warship USS Vincennes.

But Susan Cohen, whose only child Theodora, 20, was one of 35 Syracuse University students on Pan Am flight 103, said any suggestion of freedom on compassionate grounds was "vile".

Speaking from her home in New Jersey, she added: "It just shows that the power of oil money counts for more than justice. There have been so many attempts to let him off. It has to do with money and power and giving Gaddafi what he wants. My feelings, as a victim, apparently count for nothing."

Bob Minetti, an American relative who lost his son Rick, said he was very sceptical about Megrahi's illness.

"We understand Megrahi was just a tool in this, he wasn't really the person that decided what to do.

"We would really rather see Gaddafi in jail, but Megrahi was the one who was convicted and lost his appeal. So I'm really happy to see him in jail."

John Lamont, the Scottish Tory justice spokesman, said: "Alex Salmond must now prove publicly that Mr Megrahi is at death's door or he should not be released."

Robert Brown, for the Liberal Democrats, said the decision was "wrong in principle, wrong in practice and set the wrong precedent".