Family of Lockerbie bomber refuse to discuss his health

CAIRO - The family of freed Libyan Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi have refused to comment on his health, saying that only the state can answer questions about the cancer-stricken man, a regional daily reported Monday.

“Journalists should address their questions to the state, and officially ask to visit him if they want,” al-Megrahi’s cousin told the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

Al-Megrahi’s brother also took the same position, saying “we have no right to say anything to the media”.

Their comments came after Jim Swire, the father of one victim of the Lockerbie bombing, held a one-hour meeting last week with al-Megrahi.

The Libyan has kept a very low profile since being freed in August 2009, amid media speculation about his health and whereabouts. Al-Megrahi suffers from prostate cancer and was released from a Scottish prison on compassionate grounds, as doctors at the time believed that he had only three months to live.

Swire, a Scottish doctor, said that al-Megrahi “remains a sick man” but was in better shape than expected, according to media reports. Swire’s daughter Flora was on the Pan Am plane when it was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.