Lockerbie Case

U.S.-Scottish Meeting on Bomber's Release

Scots say U.S. interest has “waxed and waned.”

Scottish justice department officials are meeting with representatives of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee as part of an American investigation into the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al Megrahi last year. The committee is looking into whether al Megrahi was released as part of a BP oil deal with Libya, which all parties involved have denied. A spokesman for Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond complained that the senators had issued no public comment when the U.K. and Libya announced they were negotiating a prisoner transfer. Their "interest in the matter certainly seems to have waxed and waned,” the spokesman said. "It seemed to be nonexistent at the time when it was revealed to the world there was this 'deal in the desert.'" The U.K. government has refused to meet with American officials over the controversy.