Lockerbie bomber freed, returns to cheers in Libya

Agencies | Updated: 2009-08-21 12:02

Lockerbie bomber freed, returns to cheers in Libya

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi (R) walks towards a waiting aeroplane at Glasgow airport after being released from prison, August 20, 2009. [Agencies]

"I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear -- all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do," he said.

He also said he believed the truth behind the Lockerbie bombing may now never be known.

"I had most to gain and nothing to lose about the whole truth coming out -- until my diagnosis of cancer," he said, referring to an appeal that he dropped in order to be freed. "To those victims' relatives who can bear to hear me say this, they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss that they have suffered."

Gadhafi engineered a rapprochement with his former critics following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He renounced terrorism, dismantled Libya's secret nuclear program, accepted his government's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims' families.

Western energy companies, including Britain's BP PLC, have moved into Libya in an effort to tap the country's vast oil and gas wealth.

Briton Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died on Flight 103, welcomed the Libyan's release, saying many questions remained about what led to the bomb that exploded in the cargo hold.

"I think he should be able to go straight home to his family and spend his last days there," Swire told the BBC. "I don't believe for a moment this man was involved in the way he was found to be involved."