Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, Lockerbie bomber, dies at 60

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a dark Libyan intelligence officer who was charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people, and whose release from prison in 2009 ignited international uproar, died on Sunday, May 20, in his home in Tripoli. According to the Associated Press, his son, Khaled al-Megrahi, confirmed his death. In an e-mail, a spokesman for the National Security Council, Tommy Vietor, wrote, “Megrahi’s death concludes an unfortunate chapter following his release from prison in 2009 on medical grounds — a move we strongly opposed. As we have long said, we want to see justice for the victims of the Lockerbie bombing and their families. We will continue working with our new partners in Libya toward a full accounting of Qadhafi’s horrific acts.”

Megrahi was serving a life sentence in a Scottish prison in 2008 when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Considered a terrorist by the U.S. government and once placed on the FBI’s “most wanted” list, Megrahi was released in August of 2009 under a Scottish law that permits terminally ill prisoners to die at home. When he was freed, Megrahi was expected to live only three months. Megrahi instead lived for three more years and died at the age of 60.