Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi (R) is helped by relatives as he walks down the stairs upon his arrival at airport in Tripoli August 20, 2009. [Agencies]

"Some hurts can never heal, some scars can never fade," MacAskill said. "Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive ... However, Mr. al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power."

"I don't understand how the Scots can show compassion," said Kara Weipz, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Her 20-year-old brother Richard Monetti was on board the doomed flight. "I don't show compassion for someone who showed no remorse."

As al-Megrahi's white van rolled down street outside Greenock Prison on his way to the airport in Glasgow, Scotland, some men on the roadside made obscene gestures. He later appeared on the airport tarmac dressed in a white tracksuit and baseball cap.

In a statement following his release, al-Megrahi stood by his insistence that he was wrongfully convicted.