LONDON: Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi cannot be contacted in Tripoli by the Scottish authorities charged with supervising him following his release, The Times reported on Wednesday.
Under the terms of his release from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August, Megrahi cannot leave Tripoli or change his address and must keep in regular contact with East Renfrewshire Council.
Jonathan Hinds from the council tried to speak to Megrahi by phone at his home on Tuesday but was told he was too ill to speak to him. “We will continue to attempt to call Megrahi tomorrow and will then consider the situation,” a council spokesman told The Times.
If there were grounds for suspecting Megrahi was breaching the terms of his release “we would report that to the Scottish government and it would be up to them to decide what action to take,” he said.
A Times journalist went to the Libyan’s house in Tripoli late on Sunday but was told Megrahi was not there.
On Monday, the reporter visited the Tripoli Medical Center where Megrahi is receiving treatment for terminal prostate cancer, but receptionists said he was not there either.
Back at Megrahi’s house, one of the security officers said: “They’ve all gone,” without elaborating.
Megrahi — the only man convicted over the December 1988 bombing of a New York-bound Pan Am Boeing 747 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people — was freed on August 20 on compassionate grounds after he was given only three months to live. He returned to a hero’s welcome in Libya, angering relatives of those killed.
