Return is ruled out for dying Lockerbie bomber

Alex Salmond said the images of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi aired on US news channel CNN “clearly demonstrate” the convicted bomber is close to death and confirmed the Scottish Government will not be asking for him to be returned to Britain in the wake of the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in Libya.

The whereabouts of Gaddafi still remain unknown, but it emerged last night that his wife, two of his sons, his daughter and some of their own children have fled over the border into Algeria.

Algeria’s state news agency cited the Foreign Affairs Ministry as saying the family entered the neighbouring country yesterday morning.

The rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) in Libya reacted with fury, describing Algeria’s sheltering of the family as “an act of aggression” and calling for them to be deported to stand trial.

NTC spokesman Mahmoud Shamman said: “We have promised to provide a just trial to all those criminals and therefore we consider this an act of aggression.

“We are warning anybody not to shelter Gaddafi and his sons. We are going after them in any place to find them and arrest them.

“We consider what Algeria did as an act of aggression against the ambitions of the Libyan people.

“We will take the necessary measures in light of this. We will ask for their extradition.”

Throughout the Libyan uprising, rebels have accused Algeria of providing Gaddafi with mercenaries to curb the revolution.

Earlier Ahmed Jibril, an aide to the NTC leadership, told senior Nato envoys meeting in Qatar that Gaddafi can still cause trouble despite his loss of power.

“Gaddafi is still capable of doing something awful in the last moments,” Abdul-Jalil said.

“Even after the fighting ends, we still need logistical and military support from Nato.”

There has been growing evidence of brutal crimes during the final days of the Gaddafi regime, with more than 50 charred bodies found in a burnt-out warehouse in Tripoli.

Rebel forces were yesterday continuing their approach on Gaddafi’s last major stronghold, his hometown of Sirte, though progress was reported to be slow.

Negotiations were overshadowed by the release of the images of al-Megrahi, who was convicted and imprisoned in Scotland for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.

He was granted compassionate release in 2009 on the basis that he was expected to die from prostate cancer within months – but he has so far survived and was living in Tripoli when Gaddafi’s regime fell.

In the wake of calls, particularly from America, that the former Libyan intelligence agent should be sent back to prison, Mr Salmond said: “The latest pictures broadcast of Mr al-Megrahi clearly demonstrate that he is an extremely sick man, dying of terminal prostate cancer. Hopefully, this will end the ridiculous conspiracy theories that seek to claim anything else.

“Mr al-Megrahi remains under Scottish jurisdiction, and the only people with any legal entitlement to call for his return to Scotland are the Scottish Government.

“We have never had – and do not have – any intention of asking for the extradition of Mr al-Megrahi, because he has conformed to his licence conditions.”

The NTC has already made it clear it would not comply with any request to extradite al-Megrahi.

Its new justice minister Mohammed al-Alagi said: “We will not give any Libyan citizen to the West.

“Al-Megrahi has already been judged once and he will not be judged again...We do not hand over Libyan citizens.”

The images prompted the father of one of the bombing victims to call for al-Megrahi to be left in peace to die. Dr Jim Swire, who lost his 23-year-old daughter in the 1988 attack but has always maintained al-Megrahi’s innocence, called the idea of extraditing him “monstrous”.

“In view of all he’s been through, he should have been accorded a peaceful end in Tripoli with his family,” he said.