Lockerbie bomber Abdulbasit al-Megrahi hospitalized in Libya
The reconstructed remains of Pan Am flight 103 lie in a warehouse in Farnborough, England. The Air Accident Investigation Branch have housed the remains of the Boeing 747 for the past 23 years. The Lockerbie bomber, who was released from jail in 2009 when he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, has been hospitalized in Libya.
The Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was hospitalized in Tripoli on Friday, after his health deteriorated rapidly, his brother told Reuters.
"His health began to deteriorate quickly and we were worried about him, so took him immediately to the hospital where he is receiving a blood transfusion," al-Megrahi's brother Abdulhakim said.
The former Libyan intelligence officer was convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 as it flew to New York from London in 1988. All 259 people aboard the plane were killed, and 11 others in the Scottish town of Lockerbie died from the aircraft's falling wreckage, according to Reuters.
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Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001, but was released from Scotland's Greenock Prison in August 2009 on compassionate grounds after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, the UK Press Association reported. Doctors had estimated he had around three months to live at the time.
His release angered many of the Lockerbie bombing victims' relatives, many of whom were American. A number of US politicians have pushed for al-Megrahi to be extradited to the United States, but Libya's National Transitional Council has so far refused, according to Reuters.
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