http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8350306/Megrahi-threatened-to-reveal-Gaddafis-role-in-Lockerbie-bombing-unless-he-was-released-it-is-claimed.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d6a91f9af341990%2C0Megrahi threatened to reveal Gaddafi's role in Lockerbie bombing unless he was released, it is claimed
The Lockerbie bomber blackmailed Col Muammar Gaddafi into engineering his release from a Scottish prison by threatening to reveal that the dictator ordered the devastating attack on Pan Am Flight 103, a former Libyan official has claimed.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi allegedly threatened “revenge” on Col Gaddafi unless he was returned home to his family, prompting the dictator to spend £50,000-a-month on lobbying and legal fees in a campaign to secure the terrorist’s release.
The allegation from Mustapha Abdel-Jalil, Libya’s former justice minister, emerged last night as Libya remained in the grip of violence with pro-Gaddafi forces continuing their brutal crackdown on protesters.
It was echoed by the former terror chief Atef Abu Bakr, who claimed last night in a separate interview that Megrahi was ordered by Col Gaddafi to help plan the attack as one of the dictator’s former spies.
The claims will cause further embarrassment for Labour, after declassified documents disclosed earlier this month that Gordon Brown’s government worked behind the scenes to secure the bomber’s release in exchange for lucrative trade deals with Libya.
Megrahi is the only man ever to have been convicted over the bombing, which killed all 259 passengers and crew on board the New York-bound Boeing 747 and 11 people in Lockerbie in December 1998.
But Mr Abdel-Jalil said the convicted terrorist repeatedly threatened to “spill the beans” over the role of senior regime members in the attack unless he was granted freedom.
The former justice minister, who resigned last week in disgust at the regime’s brutal crackdown on its opponents, told the Sunday Times that the bomber warned Col Gaddafi: “If you do not rescue me I will reveal everything.”
The threat allegedly ensured that Megrahi received “special treatment” from Col Gaddafi, who worked to ensure that the bomber was given compassionate release by the Scottish authorities in August 2009 after being diagnosed with cancer.
“They were dedicated to ensuring that Megrahi should return to Libya even if it cost them every penny they had,” Abdel Jalil said.
“It was costing them £50,000 a month being paid to him, his legal team and family members for visitations and living expenses.”
Despite being given only three months to live, Megrahi remains alive a year and a half after his release.
In a separate interview, Bakr, a former general in the Palestinian Abu Nidal terrorist group, broke his silence over the atrocity as Col Gaddafi’s 42-year regime appeared on the brink of collapse.
He alleged that the dictator personally sanctioned Abu Nidal to assist in the attack, which was ordered in retaliation for the 1986 US bombing of Benghazi and Tripoli, in which Gaddafi’s daughter was killed.
He also claimed in an interview with Al Hayat, a respected Arabic newspaper, that the dictator later ordered the assassination of other agents involved in the bombing to cover his tracks.
Bakr said: “I can assure you categorically that the two processes [making the bomb and destroying the plane] were the outcome of a partnership between the Abu Nidal group and the security of the Libyan Jamahiriya.”
In the direct aftermath of the bombing, Bakr issued a statement to reporters in Beirut denying that the Abu Nidal group had involvement and expressing his condolences to the victims.
Despite confessing the group’s role in the attack last night, he did not explain his own role in the bombing.
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