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Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi discharged from hospital

jamesrage

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Only three months to live huh?


Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi discharged from hospital - Telegraph

Officials in Libya on Monday reported that Megrahi had been discharged from Tripoli Medical Centre, the country's most advanced public clinic, where he had received treatment since late August.

In August, doctors gave Megrahi just three months to live in a judgement that secured his release from a Glasgow prison. But he entered the Tripoli hospital to undergo an aggressive chemotherapy programme just days after Libyans celebrated his triumphal return.

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime publicly declared its hope that "a miracle from God" would preserve his life.

The 57-year old former Libyan intelligence official marks three months since his release next week.



Revealed: Lockerbie bomber defies doctors' prediction of death - Telegraph

The disclosure will reignite the row over the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds despite his conviction for the murder of 270 people when Pan Am flight 103 exploded in mid-air over Lockerbie in 1988.

Megrahi, who is suffering terminal prostate cancer, was sent home to Libya to die after medical experts concluded in a report on July 30 he had just three months left to live. The time span was crucial because only prisoners with three months or less to survive are eligible for release on compassionate grounds.

Within three weeks of the medical examination by Professor Karol Sikora, one of Britain's leading cancer specialists, Megrahi was put on a plane and sent home to Tripoli to die.

But three months on from Prof Sikora's diagnosis, Megrahi is well enough to "walk and talk" and shows no sign of deterioration, according to a senior source involved in his release.

The source told The Sunday Telegraph: "His condition has not deteriorated in three months. He is pretty much in the same way as he was when this all started. He is just as he was. There is nothing that leads anyone to believe he is in any different condition to when he left Scotland."

A frail-looking Megrahi was able to walk with the aid of a stick when he arrived back in Tripoli, amid jubilant scenes in the Libyan capital that caused widespread anger in the US and elsewhere.

The source told The Sunday Telegraph that Megrahi, 57, is still able to talk and walk with a stick, contradicting claims from his family that he is bedridden, unable to speak and near to death.
 
My guess is that being released from prison gave his immunity system a temporary boost. Or Allah was being merciful.:eek:
 
That bastard ain't sick. I said that the first day I heard about this ****.

The Scots oughta be embarressed as hell.
 
I suspect he might not have wanted to be released early at this point, because he would have preferred leaving with his name cleared, and submitted a substantial dossier to that effect.

Yeah! I saw him fighting like hell to stay in the jailhouse, 'till his name was cleared!...:rofl
 
Uh, if you thought you were going to be dead, would it matter? :2wave:

I'm sure we all know, by now, that he knew he wasn't going to die...:rofl
 
I understand he´s still alive and well.
 
Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door' - Telegraph

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi living in luxury villa six months after being at 'death's door'
The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is living with his family in a luxury villa in Libya six months after he was released from jail on compassionate grounds because he had less than three months to live.

By Andrew Alderson and Robert Mendick
Published: 9:00PM GMT 20 Feb 2010

Megrahi: The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988 Photo: AFP
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, no longer receives hospital treatment after ending the course of chemotherapy that he had been given after returning to his homeland last August.

Professor Karol Sikora, the London-based doctor who examined Megrahi and predicted he would be dead by last October, admitted this weekend that the fact the bomber is still alive might be "difficult" for the families of the 270 victims of the attack.


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Medical experts urged to predict bomber's early death The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in mid air over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground.

Most did not want Megrahi released and they suspected he would live longer than the predicted three months.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed last September that the Libyan government had paid for the medical evidence which helped Megrahi, 57, to be released. The Libyans had encouraged doctors to say he had only three months to live.

The life expectancy of Megrahi was crucial because, under Scottish rules, prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds only if they are considered to have this amount of time, or less, to live.

Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, ruled last August that Megrahi should be freed. Megrahi's release came after Libyan leaders warned that lucrative oil and trade deals with Britain would be cancelled if the bomber died in jail.

One leading prostate cancer specialist cast serious doubt yesterday on the wisdom of predicting that Megrahi had only three months to live – when a patient still had to undergo chemotherapy. Dr Chris Parker said it was extremely difficult to give an accurate prognosis for individual patients. "Studies show experts are very poor at trying to predict how long an individual patient will live for," he warned.

Megrahi received the chemotherapy drug Docetaxel – trade name Taxotere – shortly after returning to Libya.

Dr Parker, who is with the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: "The average prognosis for survival after Docetaxel would be 12 months.

"It can vary enormously but it would be very unusual to live beyond two years."

Doctors in Libya supply monthly medical reports to Scottish authorities who can speak to Megrahi whenever they want. The conditions of his early release stipulate he must not leave Libya.

Megrahi, is now living in a spacious two-storey villa with his wife and their five grown-up children in a prosperous suburb of Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

The property has a spacious garden and an area where the family erects a large tent to entertain visitors for celebrations.

The property has a security gate and there is often a uniformed police officer sitting on a white chair outside.

The Megrahis, who are part of a prominent tribe, are well off and it is understood that his family was paid substantial compensation by the Libyan Government after he was jailed for life.

They are known to have urged Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, to get Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent, freed from his jail.

Prof Sikora, one of the examining doctors who was paid a consultancy fee last July to examine Megrahi, told The Sunday Telegraph this weekend: "My information from Tripoli is that it's not going to be long [before Megrahi dies].

"They stopped any active treatment in December and he has just been going downhill very slowly at home. He is on high doses of morphine [a painkiller] and it's any day now."

Prof Sikora said that he suspected that Megrahi was still alive because he had received a "psychological" boost from returning to his homeland and being reunited with his family.

"It's stimulated him to have a remarkable [short-term] recovery," he said. "It's difficult. The choice offered by the letter of the law was either three months to live, or nothing. You couldn't have a sliding scale."

Some prostate cancer patients have lived for years longer that their doctors predicted.

Prof Sikora said it was just possible that Megrahi would be alive in several years time but added: "It's highly unlikely. There is a 90 per cent chance he will die in the next few weeks.

"He is relatively young and has very aggressive, fast-moving disease."

Megrahi has always denied any involvement in the Lockerbie bombing. He withdrew his second appeal against conviction just two days before he was allowed to return to Libya.

Those close to him say he did so reluctantly because he was convinced it would improve his chances of being freed from a Scottish jail.

Megrahi could have been released on compassionate grounds without dropping his appeal – but he could not have been freed under a prisoner exchange programme if legal action was ongoing.

Until the last moment, the authorities made it clear they were considering both options.

Professor Sikora had a message to the relatives of the Lockerbie tragedy who are angered by Megrahi's release: "The quality of his life is not good – he is a dying man.

"Quite frankly, as an act of mercy, it is better that he dies at home rather than in prison."

However, one source involved in monitoring Megrahi's health suggested the bomber's condition has got no worse in the past six months.

The source said: "Megrahi is still the same as ever. His condition has not deteriorated. There is no sign of him dying any time yet but who knows? It's totally unpredictable."
 
Only a corrupt and insane society would release a mass murdering terrorist on compassionate grounds. **** like this just makes compassion associated and or synonymous with idiocy and corruption and why the death penalty is a great idea(can't get released due to compassion if you are already dead)..
 
Only a corrupt and insane society would release a mass murdering terrorist on compassionate grounds. **** like this just makes compassion associated and or synonymous with idiocy and corruption and why the death penalty is a great idea(can't get released due to compassion if you are already dead)..

Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
 
**** like this just makes compassion associated and or synonymous with idiocy and corruption and why the death penalty is a great idea(can't get released due to compassion if you are already dead)..

Then move to Scotland and get her laws changed ;)
 
As long as he's not involved in criminal activity then I don't see the big deal.
 
Some people are convinced he was not involved... like most of the people in the country he is from.

Also, he was released as part of some oil deal.
 
Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.

Are you saying that society should not punish any criminal regardless of the crime? I think society failing to adequately punish those who do wrong results in people taking the law into their own hands.
 
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This man is most likely innocent any ways. The evidence against him was at best tainted and at worst fabricated. Instead of focusing all your hatred on this man, then maybe people should focus on the fact that the people behind the bombing are most likely still at large.

Just as an example of the issues with the evidence.. the head witness against Al Megrahi, a store owner from Malta changed his testimony several times and ultimately got millions from the FBI and safe passage to Australia.

There is almost no doubt there was a huge miscarriage of justice in this case.
 
MI-6 needs to put the crosshairs on him.
 
Are you saying that society should not punish any criminal regardless of the crime? I think society failing to adequately punish those who do wrong results in people taking the law into their own hands.

I'd agree with him. Just separate criminals from society until they are ready to come back in as productive citizens.
 
I'd agree with him. Just separate criminals from society until they are ready to come back in as productive citizens.

Regardless of the crime committed?
 
I'd agree with him. Just separate criminals from society until they are ready to come back in as productive citizens.

Terrorists can never become productive citizens. Remove them from society by means of a short rope and a long drop.
 
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