Barack Obama last night denounced Scotland's release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi as a mistake, and revealed the US had opened talks with Libya urging the regime to keep the terminally-ill man under house arrest until his death.
Megrahi, who is thought to have only three months to live, was freed on compassionate grounds yesterday. But as the Afriqiyah Airways jet taking him home to Tripoli took off from Glasgow airport at 3.26pm, it left in its wake a torrent of international condemnation.
Obama led the strong US criticism of the decision. "We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this," he said. "We thought it was a mistake."
Despite Obama's warnings that Libya should not give Megrahi a hero's welcome, thousands of young men were on hand at the military airport in Tripoli where his plane landed. As he disembarked, cheering supporters, some wearing T-shirts bearing his picture, threw flower petals in the air and waved Libyan and miniature Scottish flags, while Libyan songs played in the background.
Wearing a dark suit and burgundy tie, Megrahi left the plane with the Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi's son, Saif, who raised his hand to the crowd before they left. Megrahi was reportedly on his way to meet his 95-year-old mother.
Earlier on, in a carefully choreographed day, it took just 67 minutes to free the man who it had taken more than a decade to catch and convict for plotting Britain's worst terrorist atrocity, the bombing of Pan Am flight 103.
At 1pm, the Scottish justice secretary Kenny Macaskill told a press conference of his decision to free Megrahi because spreading prostate cancer is killing him.
At 2.29pm, the white A300 airliner touched down in Glasgow while at Greenock prison, Megrahi, frail and bowed by his illness, walked slowly into a prison van, his face swathed in a white scarf.
At 2.37pm, a small convoy of six police vehicles flanked by a police outriders swept him under the prison's arch. About 80 local residents had gathered outside the gate. Some shouted abuse while some cheered ironically, as the convoy passed.
Roads were closed as the convoy was shepherded through Greenock by its outriders and down the M8 to Glasgow airport, shadowed by a small squadron of police and TV helicopters.
At 3.09pm, Megrahi stepped from the van onto the airport tarmac, his face obscured by a white baseball cap and the scarf. After a handshake with prison guards, Megrahi leaned on a walking stick and pulled himself up the aircraft steps.
Megrahi had repeatedly denied his guilt – protesting his innocence again in an emotional statement yesterday – but he left Scotland a convicted mass murderer, after dropping his appeal against conviction in order to expedite his release.
In his hand he held papers that threatened "recall to custody" if he did not comply with the terms of his release, including giving monthly health updates andbeing interviewed by a supervising officer. Last night, Scottish opposition politicians said the terms were unenforcable.
American relatives of those killed in the bombing condemned the release. Showing Megrahi any compassion was "utterly despicable", said Kara Weipz, 36, whose brother Rick was killed in the atrocity.
"The interests of justice have not been served by this decision," said Eric Holder, the US attorney general, who helped investigate the bombing originally. "There is simply no justification for releasing this convicted terrorist whose actions took the lives of 270 individuals."
But Macaskill, the Scottish justice secretary and former criminal defence lawyer who issued Megrahi's release papers, said his decision was a moral act.
"In Scotland, we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity. It is viewed as a defining characteristic," he told a packed press conference in Edinburgh.
"The perpetration of an atrocity and outrage cannot and should not be a basis for losing sight of who we are, the values we seek to uphold, and the faith and beliefs by which we seek to live. Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. [But] compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people, no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.
"For these reasons alone, it is my decision that Mr al-Megrahi be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die."
Macaskill released medical reports on Megrahi's condition. His cancer, diagnosed in September 2008, failed to respond to hormone treatment. The cancer hit nine out of 10 on the "Gleason score" of severity. The official medical report stated that Megrahi's condition had "declined significantly" earlier this month. "The clinical assessment, therefore, is that a three month prognosis is now a reasonable estimate for the patient."
Megrahi issued a statement stressing his innocence, saying his conviction was "a disgrace" and his imprisonment had been a "horrible ordeal". "I am obviously very relieved to be leaving my prison cell at last and returning to Libya, my homeland," he continued. "Many people, including the relatives of those who died in, and over, Lockerbie, are, I know, upset that my appeal has come to an end; that nothing more can be done about the circumstances surrounding the Lockerbie bombing.
"I share their frustration. I had most to gain and nothing to lose about the truth coming out – until my cancer diagnosis. To those victims' relatives who can bear to hear me say this: they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss they have suffered. To those who bear me ill will, I do not return that to you."
Obama said he had contacted families of the deceased and indicated to them that the release was inappropriate. He added: "We have been in contact with the Scottish government indicating we object to this. We thought it was a mistake. We are now contacting the Libyan government to make sure that if this transfer has taken place, he is not welcomed back in some way but should instead be under house arrest."
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