Lockerbie bomber unable to speak due to 'deteriorating' health

London, Sep. 13 (ANI): The Lockerbie bomber's brother has said that Abdel Basset al-Megrahi's health condition has deteriorated rapidly in the last 24 hours, and he is now unable to speak.

"He is at a special ward at Tripoli Medical Centre. His condition has deteriorated rapidly since yesterday. He is unable to speak to anyone. His situation is worrying. His temperature is at 39.5 degrees," Sky News quoted his brother Abdenasser Megrahi, as saying.

Doctors treating Megrahi confirmed this.

"We are expecting the result of lab exams from Germany to arrive here before a special committee of doctors release a statement on his health circumstances," a doctor said.

A reporter who was allowed inside Megrahi's room said that the Lockerbie bomber was unable to speak.

"He could not utter words. He cannot speak. I was due to interview him from his hospital bed but he cannot speak to me because of the apparent sudden deterioration of his health," he said.

Last month, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was freed to his home country Libya after Scotland decided to release him on the grounds that he has prostate cancer and does not have long to live.

Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for his part in blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988, killing 270 people.

The British Government has been accused of backing Megrahi's release in order to benefit from North African state's oil and gas reserves.

However, the Gordon Brown Government has rejected such allegations. (ANI)