A former Libyan intelligence officer sentenced to life in prison for his role in bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, has died in a Libyan prison. He was 60.
Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, was sentenced to life in prison for the December 21, 1988 bombing of the transatlantic flight from London to New York in which 270 people were killed – 259 on board and 11 people on the ground, including 189 Americans.
Megrahi was the only person convicted of the crime, though he maintained his innocence. Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, another Libyan intelligence officer charged in the attack, was found not guilty.
Megrahi was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in 2009 and released home to Libya from Scottish prison on compassionate grounds, leading to international accusations that British and Scottish oil interests led to the release.