The convicted Lockerbie bomber on Dec. 22 claimed to have new evidence about the 1988 terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 that he said could clear his name. Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 over the attack that killed 270 people, most of them American, when the aircraft exploded over the Scottish town. He was freed from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009 after doctors estimated he had only three months to live due to cancer.
In an interview published in several British newspapers, the former Libyan intelligence officer protested his innocence and claimed he was on the brink of death. “I am an innocent man,” Al-Megrahi was quoted as saying. “I am about to die and I ask now to be left in peace with my family.” In the interview, Al-Megrahi said he had collaborated on a new book about the case, which he claimed would present new evidence. He insisted that a key prosecution point against him at his trial was flawed.