This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/8241172.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Balls 'didn't want bomber freed' | Balls 'didn't want bomber freed' |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Cabinet minister Ed Balls has suggested that Gordon Brown did not want the Lockerbie bomber to be released. | |
| Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the schools secretary said: "None of us wanted to see the release of [Abdelbaset Ali] al-Megrahi." | |
| But he said it was a matter for the Scottish government, not Westminster. | But he said it was a matter for the Scottish government, not Westminster. |
| The prime minister has declined to say whether he supported the decision, which the Scottish government says was made on compassionate grounds. | The prime minister has declined to say whether he supported the decision, which the Scottish government says was made on compassionate grounds. |
| Mr Balls, a close ally of the prime minister, said: "I have to say that none of us wanted to see the release of al-Megrahi but that wasn't a judgement made by the British government it was a decision made by the Scottish executive." | |
| FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme | |
| Megrahi, the only person convicted in connection with the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, was found guilty of 270 counts of murder in 2001. He was given a life sentence. | |
| But the Scottish government, which decides on criminal justice matters in Scotland, agreed to release him early last month because he is terminally ill. | |
| The decision has been heavily criticised in the United States, where 180 victims were from, but the prime minister has not commented on whether he thinks it was the right thing to do - stating only that it was a matter for the Scottish government and that he "respected" their decision. | |
| However he faced accusations of double dealing and suggestions the release was linked to British oil interests in Libya after it emerged Libyan officials had been told the prime minister did not want to see al-Megrahi die in a British prison. |