UK advised Libya on Megrahi release

A secret US diplomatic cable obtained by the WikiLeaks website and shown to the Daily Telegraph cites details of a letter sent by then Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell to his Tripoli counterpart.

Sent within weeks of Megrahi being diagnosed with cancer, it outlines "the procedure for obtaining compassionate release", the newspaper said.

The memo, composed after a Foreign Office official briefed the US ambassador, will raise fresh questions about the role played by London in the controversial release.

Then Prime Minister Gordon Brown strenuously denied any attempt by the Government to influence the decision, agreed by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in August 2009.

It will also increase the pressure on David Cameron to meet a promise to examine the release of official documents surrounding the case – amid claims by some US politicians of a cover-up.

Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people in the air and on the ground.

Megrahi, the only person convicted over the atrocity, remains alive in Tripoli 16 months after being released from jail with terminal prostate cancer.

The memo was written by a US official after a meeting between its ambassador in London and senior Foreign Office official Rob Dixon.

"FCO Minister for the Middle East Bill Rammell sent Libyan Deputy FM Abdulati al-Obeidi a letter, which was cleared both by HMG and by the Scottish Executive, on October 17 outlining the procedure for obtaining compassionate release," it was reported to say.

"It cites Section 3 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act of 1993 as the basis for release of prisoners, on license, on compassionate grounds.

The Foreign Office said it did not comment on the detail of leaked documents. A spokesman for Mr Brown said he had no comment on the report.