Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
The Libyan man, Abdul Al-Megrahi, behind the 1988 bombing of a United States plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, who was released because he had less than three months to die, is still very much alive at the end of his third month of freedom but friends and families of victims want him back to jail.
Al-Megrahi, 57, was set free on a compassionate ground from a Scottish prison on August 20 because he was said to have a terminal prostate cancer and was going to die in less than three months, according to a medical report released by Scottish authorities.
But, this November 20 marks his three months of freedom with no sign of him passing away.
Some US family members of the 270 victims of the bombing are getting impatient and making incessant calls to the British Consulate in New York and to the Scottish Executive, as reported by US NBC.
In a statement on Thursday, New York Senator Charles Schumer called on Libyans to send Al-Megrahi back to Britain to continue his prison sentence since “the terrorist is outliving the terms of his release.”
“The bottom line is Megrahi should never have been released in the first place," Schumer told NBC.
Some relatives of the victims, according to AP, have said they believe Megrahi’s release was part of a deal for future British oil deals with Libya.
A spokeswoman for Scottish Justice Minister Kenny Macaskill said that at the time of Megrahi's release, it was understood he might die some time before or after the three month mark.
“For Megrahi to be recalled, he would need to breech one or more conditions of his license. Not dying within three months is not one of those conditions,” Macaskill said.
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