Jack Straw has admitted the Government caved in to Libyan demands that the Lockerbie bomber be included in a prisoner transfer deal with Britain. The Justice Secretary said he originally wanted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi omitted from the agreement, but relented and agreed the bomber should be eligible.
He said the Libyans deserved "something" in return for giving up their nuclear weapons programme but vehemently denied striking a "backdoor deal" over Megrahi.
| Libya got normalization of relations with Britain and the U.S. instead of sanctions... and they weren't invaded like Afghanistan and Iraq. That is quite enough to suffice any reasonable nation. |
Mr Straw insisted on Sunday that the disclosures were a "red herring" as Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, made the final decision on Megrahi's release.
Alex Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, stressed that Libya's PTA application had been rejected, and the terminally-ill bomber was freed on compassionate grounds.
But Opposition parties increased their demands for a full inquiry into suspicions that the PTA was a "terrorist-for-trade" deal.
A series of leaked letters were published on Sunday in which Mr Straw argued that it was in the UK's "overwhelming interests" that Magrahi be eligible for return to Libya.
In a BBC interview, the Justice Secretary said he originally wanted a "carve-out" for Megrahi in the PTA but: "The Libyans resisted this on the grounds that it was wholly unnecessary."