Inquiry into Lockerbie bomber release

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Sources say the Scottish government plans to convene a hearing on the role business considerations played in the recent release of a Libyan terrorist.

The Scotsman said Wednesday that the justice committee inquiry would seek to determine whether Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was released from prison on humanitarian grounds or to help a Scottish energy company with ties to Libya.

Allan MacAskill, an executive with SeaEnergy Renewables, is the brother of Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill.

The newspaper said part of the probe would be an analysis of Megrahi's prison medical records to see if they back up claims he was on the verge of death from prostate cancer.

Megrahi was released from prison where he had been locked up for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. The bombing killed 270 people aboard the jumbo jet and on the ground, many of them Americans.

A Scottish government spokesman Tuesday night defended the decision to release Megrahi and said SeaEnergy Renewables was involved in the development of offshore wind energy in Scotland.