As questions swirl whether British Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a dictator’s ransom when he released the Lockerbie bomber last week, the Libyan strongman’s son said it was “obvious” that efforts to free the convicted killer were tied to lucrative contracts with the oil-rich state.
“Why be so angry?” asked Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi in an interview with the Scottish Herald, responding to the international uproar ignited as Scotland freed Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man ever convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people.
Al-Megrahi, who is dying of prostate cancer, was sentenced to life in prison for the crime but served only 8 years of his sentence — just 11 days in prison for each of his victims.
In the week since his release, pressure has been mounting on Brown to explain his government’s role in securing the al-Megrahi’s freedom, possibly as part of the so-called “deal in the desert” struck by Britain with Libya two years ago.
Qaddafi said it was “not a secret” that his father inked a 2007 prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) with Britain’s then-Prime Minister Tony Blair at the same time the two governments were signing favorable oil and trade deals.
“People should not get angry because we were talking about commerce or oil. We signed an oil deal at the same time,” Qaddafi told the Herald. “The commerce and politics and deals were all with the PTA.”
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