EDINBURGH, Scotland Britains government says it has warned Libya that any celebration of the anniversary of the release from jail of the Lockerbie bomber would be offensive and insensitive to the families of the mainly U.S. victims of the attack.
Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi is the only person convicted in connection with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 above Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 259 people onboard � mostly Americans � and 11 on the ground.
He was ordered in 2001 to serve 27 years in jail, but he was freed on Aug. 20 of last year on compassionate grounds, as he has cancer.
Al-Megrahi returned to Libya.
In a statement issued Friday, Britains Foreign Office said any celebration of al-Megrahis freedom would be tasteless, offensive and deeply insensitive.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. APs earlier story is below.
EDINBURGH, Scotland AP � Some families of the British victims of the Lockerbie bombing have challenged four U.S. senators to speak to them about their take on the 1988 terror attack.
Although the American relatives of those who died in the attack have largely focused on the controversy surrounding the release of former Libyan agent Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of playing any role in the atrocity, many here in the U.K. harbor lingering doubts about his guilt � and want the U.S. to know it.
The senators should not be asking why Mr. al-Megrahi was released, but why he was convicted in the first place, said Rev. John Mosey, whose daughter Helga, 19, was among those who perished in the attack. This is not about one man, but about the 270 people who died.
Lawyers for al-Megrahi have long argued that the attack was actually the result of an Iranian-financed Palestinian plot, and that authorities in Britain and the United States tampered with evidence, disregarded witness statements and steered investigators toward the conclusion that Libya, not Iran, was to blame.
Libya accepted responsibility and pay compensation for the Lockerbie bombing, the argument goes, as a quick and easy way to shake off its pariah status.
The theory remains a matter of debate in Scotland. Retired Detective Chief Superintendent Stuart Henderson, who helped link al-Megrahi to the bombing, recently told Scottish television that the idea that anyone would attempt to frame al-Megrahi was ridiculous.
Still, it does have some traction and Mosey and others have called for a public inquiry into the case.
U.S. families remain outraged at the decision to release al-Megrahi because he had terminal cancer. The decision cut al-Megrahis 27-year sentence short and allowed him to return to Libya to a heros welcome.
Friday marks the first full year of al-Megrahis freedom � despite the fact that doctors said his cancer gave him only three months to live.
Four Democratic U.S. senators � Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer of New York and Bob Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey � have called on Scotlands government to release all medical records they hold on al-Megrahi. Scottish authorities have refused, citing patient confidentiality.
However, those involved in the decision have spoken out. In an interview with the AP earlier this week, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said he stood by the decision to release the convicted bomber. And on Thursday a cancer specialist who advised Scotlands government over the release defended the three-month assessment.
Consultant oncologist Grahame Howard, one of four advisers to the Scottish Prison Service on the health of Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi, said it was a fair reflection of the specialist advice available at the time.
Mosey said that U.S. officials needed to change their focus.
Instead of hounding the doctors and Scottish politicians in the case, I would like them to come over to speak to us, the U.K. families of Flight 103, he said. We are not in uniform agreement, but I think they need to hear our voices.
We have not learned the truth about Lockerbie.
___
Associated Press Writer David Stringer in London contributed to this report.
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