Lockerbie bomber can live for five more years

Tripoli (Libya)/London, Mar 15(ANI): Terminally ill Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is at the centre of another controversy after it was revealed that he is taking an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug, which can keep him alive for five more years.

According to reports, Megrahi was prescribed 'Taxotere' after returning to Libya in August 2009.

It is being claimed he could have been kept behind bars in Greenock prison if he had taken the medication.

Megrahi has defied the medical forecast that he had three months to live when he was controversially released from prison seven months ago.

The issue has sparked fresh fury and Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken has demanded answers from Scotland Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, saying: "Was the existence of a drug which is reportedly now extending the life of the Lockerbie bomber included in any of the reports Kenny MacAskill read before making the decision to release him?"

"Alex Salmond's government is still refusing to publish the independent advice upon which they based their decision," The Sun quoted Aitken, as saying.

The latest disclosure will incense many of the relatives of those who died in the bomb blast in December 1988 when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded mid air over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 243 assengers, 16 crew and 11 people on the ground. (ANI)