LIBYA/FILE: Former Libyan intelligence officer and convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdulbasit al-Megrahi is in critical condition at a Libyan hospital following a blood transfusion says his brother

Record ID: 899092

  • Title: LIBYA/FILE: Former Libyan intelligence officer and convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdulbasit al-Megrahi is in critical condition at a Libyan hospital following a blood transfusion says his brother
  • Date: 15th April 2012
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (FILE - SEPTEMBER 9, 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) INTERIOR TRIPOLI MEDICAL CENTRE CONFERENCE ROOM, AL-MEGRAHI SEATED IN WHEELCHAIR SURROUNDED BY MEDICAL STAFF CLOSE OF AL-MEGRAHI WEARING FACE MASK PAN AFRICAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES SEATED IN CONFERENCE ROOM APPLAUDING AL-MEGRAHI BEING WHEELED OUT OF THE CONFERENCE ROOM BY MEDICAL STAFF TRIPOLI, LIBYA (OCTOBER 2, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF HOME BELONGING TO CONVICTED LOCKERBIE BOMBER ABDEL BASSET AL-MEGRAHI AL-MEGRAHI IN HIS BED AT HOME WITH MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AT BEDSIDE
  • Embargoed: 30th April 2012 12:33
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya, United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: United Kingdom Libya
  • Topics: Crime,Health,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA5PTZNGSTEWUX9YRUAL3U4YFI4
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people was transferred to hospital on Friday (April 13) after his health deteriorated quickly, his brother said.
    Abdulbasit al-Megrahi was taken from his Tripoli home to a private clinic, his brother Abdulhakim said, where his condition 24 hours later remains critical.
    "His health condition today is still critical, my brother Abdulbasit should have received blood and stayed (in medical care) for only two days, until his haemoglobin levels reach at least nine, but the doctor and the entire medical staff are not allowing him to leave for an unknown period," he said on Saturday (April 14) from his apartment in Tripoli's eastern suburb of Tajoura.
    "We don't know (if he's in a coma), he sometimes speaks and sometimes sleeps, it's intermittent but as a civilian who's not a doctor I don't know whether he's slipping into a coma or not but his sleep is intermittent. Secondly, he's in a very very poor state," he added.
    Megrahi was handed over by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and convicted in a Scottish court in 2001 of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 as it flew to New York from London. Another LIbyan, Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, was also transferred to Scotland to be tried over the bombing, but was acquitted.
    All 259 people aboard the airliner were killed and 11 others on the ground in the Scottish town of Lockerbie died from falling wreckage.
    Abdulhakim said the Megrahi family were desperately seeking blood donors on Friday to keep his brother alive.
    "My brother Abdulbasit's blood type is B positive, and most of the family are B positive. Of course, as the doctor has said, Abdulbasit requires a blood transfusion periodically because of the illness he's suffering from, so yesterday he collapsed and his haemoglobin levels reached a very very low level which required help from people from all sections of society. We went to hospitals, we went to mosques, and thank God we managed to acquire 11 litres of blood from people who were sympathetic to us; my colleagues from the army, other people or neighbours," he said.
    Scotland freed him in 2009 on compassionate grounds because he was suffering from advanced terminal prostate cancer and was thought to have months to live. Although part of the United Kingdom, Scotland has a separate justice system.
    Megrahi's release angered many relatives of the victims, 189 of whom were American, and the Obama administration criticised the decision. A number of U.S. politicians have pressed for his extradition to the United States, something Libya's ruling National Transitional Council said it would not do.
    Megrahi, who served as an intelligence agent during the rule of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, denied any role in suspected human rights abuses in his home country before Gaddafi's fall and death in a popular uprising last year.
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