Convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi returned to Libya yesterday after being released on compassionate grounds from a Scottish prison where he only served eight years of a life sentence for the murder of 270 people.
The terminally-ill Libyan convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing flew home from Scotland to a joyous reception in Tripoli yesterday.
Thousands of young people waving Libyan and Scottish flags greeted the aircraft carrying Mr Al-Megrahi as it landed in Tripoli amid heavy security.
He emerged from the plane wearing a dark suit, his hand held by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam, who was in the delegation that flew to Scotland to bring him home.
Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said Mr al-Megrahi was suffering from terminal prostate cancer with a life expectancy of three months.
"Mr al-Megrahi is being released on compassionate grounds to go and die in Libya," Mr MacAskill said.
In 2001 the Libyan was the only person to be found guilty of the bombing of a Pan Am passenger plane that exploded over the Scottish village of Lockerbie. All 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground were killed in the terrorist act that happened in 1988, four days before Christmas.
The Scottish secretary's decision came in the wake of strong protests from relatives of the American Lockerbie victims and the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who opposed the Libyan's release.
The US yesterday said it "deeply regretted" the Scottish government's decision.
Mr MacAskill said he rejected a request by the Libyan authorities for the release of Mr al-Megrahi on the basis of a prisoner transfer agreement between the United Kingdom and Libya.
However, he defended his decision to grant release on compassionate grounds after comprehensive medical reports showed a significant deterioration in Mr al-Megrahi's health.
Mr al-Megrahi had shown no compassion to his victims, the Scottish Secretary said, but that was no reason to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.
"He now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power... it is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die. Justice must be served but mercy must be shown," Mr MacAskill said insisting Scotland had to be true to its values.
Malta had been drawn into the Lockerbie affair during Mr al-Megrahi's trial when it was alleged that the bomb started its journey in a suitcase on a flight from Luqa to Frankfurt. The bomb was then transferred to Heathrow airport where it boarded its final destination, Pan Am flight 103.
Mr al-Megrahi had worked in Malta at the Libyan Arab Airlines office but was a Libyan secret agent.
Malta has always maintained its innocence in the whole affair insisting that the link between the bomb and the island was never proven. Widespread doubts still persist on whether Mr al-Megrahi was the true perpetrator of the terrorist act even though his appeal was turned down.