Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only person convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people, was buried yesterday after he died of cancer, protesting his innocence to the end.
He has died and left us with the feeling of injustice
Well-wishers held traditional Muslim prayers and paid their respects to Mr Megrahi’s family in a subdued ceremony in Janzur, a suburb just west of Tripoli.
“His pain is over now – he is with God,” said Mohammed al-Megrahi, insisting that his brother paid the price for a crime he did not commit.
“There never was exact proof,” he said.
As the body was lowered into the grave, one distraught relative shouted: “He is innocent, he is innocent.”
Mr Megrahi was found guilty of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, killing all 259 people on board and another 11 people on the ground.
He died on Sunday, almost three years after the Scottish government freed him on compassionate grounds following his diagnosis with prostate cancer.
Mr Megrahi’s death has revived the debate on whether his conviction was flawed and prompted sharply contrasting reactions in Britain and the United States.
He had always maintained his innocence, arguing that US agencies “led the way” in securing his conviction.
His brother Abdelhakim defended him on Sunday, saying he was the “scapegoat” of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, toppled in a popular uprising last year.
“He has died and has left us with the feeling of injustice,” he said. “Everyone knows that the Gaddafi regime blamed its mistakes on others.”
The brother said the family would cooperate fully with any reopened investigation into the Lockerbie killings.
“We are convinced of Abdelbaset’s innocence. Yes, we want the truth. It’s in our interest,” Abdelhakim said.
The US government, which was outraged by Scotland’s decision to free the former Libyan airline security chief, said his death concluded “an unfortunate chapter”.
“We will continue working with our new partners in Libya towards a full accounting of (Muammar) Gaddafi’s horrific acts,” said US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor.
Libya’s interim government pledged its full cooperation with any further inquiries into the Lockerbie bombing, which some, particularly in Britain, have blamed on Iran and its Palestinian allies rather than Gaddafi.
“In Libya, it is in our interest to close this case and bring out the truth,” said Transitional National Council spokesman Mohammed Harizi. “We want to expose the crimes of Gaddafi which did so much harm to the Libyan people.”
The fact that Mr Megrahi survived much longer than the doctors had estimated provoked indignation in Britain and the US.
The convict had been greeted as a hero on his return to Gaddafi’s Libya, after having served eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence for his role in the Lockerbie bombing.
In December, Mr Megrahi told several British newspapers in what was billed as a “final interview” that a book being written by investigative journalist John Ashton would clear his name.
“I am an innocent man,” he told the papers, including The Times and the Daily Mail.
“I am about to die and I ask now to be left in peace with my family,” he said.