afrol News, 29 April - The Libyan government has signed a prisoners' transfer agreement with Britain in Tripoli today, a senior Libyan official has said.

According to officials, the agreement will pave way for a Libyan man, Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi, convicted of the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, to apply to serve the rest of his sentence in a Libyan jail.

The agreement comes just a day after Mr Megrahi begun an appeal of his conviction in a Scottish court. He was jailed in 2001 for his role in the bombing of a plane that killed 270 people in December 1988.

The prisoner transfer deal was one of four judicial cooperation agreements signed by the director of legal affairs at the Libyan foreign ministry, Mohammed es-Sagaier, and the British ambassador to Tripoli, said the Libyan official.

Mr Megrahi has already lost one appeal against his conviction for the 1988 atrocity. Since then he has been in prison in Scotland, and must remain in jail until at least 2026.

A Scottish court ruled in 2003 that Mr Megrahi must serve at least 27 years of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Mr Megrahi who has since his conviction for the bombing denied all the charges leveled against him was denied bail last November under severe medical condition. He is reported to have severe prostate cancer according to a team of medical experts.

The appeal at the Criminal Appeal Court in Edinburgh expected to last for a month is being heard by five judges, headed by Scotland's senior judge, the Lord Justice General, Lord Hamilton.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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