Scotland defends Lockerbie bomber release

Scotland has defended its decision to release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond acknowledged the US anger, but denied the row had damaged Scotland's reputation.

'Our relationship with America is a strong and enduring one,' he told BBC radio.

'It doesn't depend on always reaching agreement. That can't be the case, otherwise there would be no point in having our own independent decision-making and our own jurisdiction.

'We have to do what we believe to be right.'

While defending the decision, Mr Salmond criticised the way Megrahi was greeted when he returned to Libya.

Megrahi, freed by Scotland on compassionate grounds, was given a triumphant reception in Libya on his return last night.

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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband described the scenes in Tripoli as 'deeply distressing' and he warned Libya that its treatment of Megrahi could have serious diplomatic repercussions.

'Obviously the sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing, above all for the families,' Mr Miliband told BBC radio.

'It's very important that Libya knows ... that how the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days ... will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's re-entry into the civilised community of nations,' he said.

Earlier, the US President had described the release as a 'mistake,' and called on Libya to ensure 'he's not welcomed back in some way,' but instead put under house arrest.

'We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this, and we thought it was a mistake,' Barack Obama said.

However in Tripoli, loudspeakers pumped out patriotic music and hundreds of people waved Libyan and Scottish flags as Megrahi's plane landed.

He emerged holding the hand of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, a reception that outraged victims' families.

Meghrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer who was serving a life sentence when he became terminally ill with prostate cancer, is the only person ever convicted of the bombing in 1988.

Pan Am flight 103 was carrying 259 passengers and crew when it left London for New York on 21 December 1988.

In all, 189 US citizens on board and 11 people on the ground were killed when a bomb tore apart the aircraft and wreckage fell on the town of Lockerbie.

US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley warned Libya that its relations with the US stood to be affected by its handling of Megrahi's return.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who represented relatives of many young victims of the tragedy as a senator from New York, said Washington was 'deeply disappointed.'

Megrahi was convicted in 2001 after a trial held under Scottish jurisdiction at a special court in the Netherlands.