Lockerbie bomber said to be very ill

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TRIPOLI, Libya, April 14 (UPI) -- Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 193, has been hospitalized in Libya, his brother says.

Al-Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison in 2009 after he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. Abdulhakim al-Megrahi said his brother was taken to a private hospital Friday, The Scotsman reported.

"His health began to deteriorate quickly, and we were worried about him so took him immediately to the hospital where he is receiving a blood transfusion," Abdulhakim said.

Flight 193, en route from London to New York, blew up over the small town of Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground. Many of the passengers were U.S. college students flying home for Christmas.

Al-Megrahi's continued survival since his release has angered many of those bereaved by the bombing, with accusations that the Scottish government made a deal with then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi or that al-Megrahi faked his illness. He has reportedly been receiving abiraterone, a new drug Scottish health officials have said will not be offered to cancer patients in Scotland because it costs more than $4,000 a month.

In December, al-Megrahi reportedly told Scottish officials in a video-link interview that he had stopped treatment and was receiving only palliative care.