CONVICTED BOMBER OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 , FREED

Abdel Basset Al-Megrahi , the man convicted of the 1988 bombing of an aircraft Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie has been freed. He was cheered by hundreds of Libyans upon his arrival in Tripoli on Thursday
Upon arrival in Libya, he said he would present new evidence to prove his innocence before he dies, UK's The Times newspaper has reported.

• In an article out Saturday, Al-Megrahi, interviewed in his family home in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, said he had suffered a "miscarriage of justice".
• "If there is justice in the UK I would be acquitted or the verdict would be quashed because it was unsafe. There was a miscarriage of justice," al-Megrahi was quoted as saying.
• The Times said 57-year-old al-Megrahi, released on compassionate grounds, promised that before he died, he would present new evidence through his Scottish lawyers that would exonerate him.
• "My message to the British and Scottish communities is that I will put out the evidence and ask them to be the jury," he said, refusing to elaborate.
• Asked who carried out the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which killed 270 people, he replied: "It is a very good question but I am not the right person to ask".
• Britain described celebrations in Libya upon al-Megrahi's return as being "deeply distressing" and Barack Obama, the US president, called the warm welcome "highly objectionable".
• Senior US officials said that al-Megrahi's early release could disrupt diplomatic relations between Washington and Tripoli.
• Many families of the victims in the bombing have expressed anger that he was released after serving only eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence.

Source: The Agencies