UK stops bomber's hopes for jail transfer

Britain said yesterday a Libyan convicted of bombing an airliner, killing 270 people, would stay in a Scottish prison, despite efforts by Nelson Mandela to have him transferred to a Muslim country.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said there would be no change for Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, a Libyan secret agent convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988.

He was sentenced to life in prison, with a recommendation that he serve at least 20 years.

The member of parliament for Lockerbie, Russell Brown, wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair last month expressing his concerns about intervention by Mandela, the former South African president, who visited Megrahi in his Glasgow jail in June.

Mandela said Megrahi was well treated by prison staff but was harassed by other prisoners and should serve his sentence in a Muslim country trusted by the West.

But Straw, in a reply to Brown's letter, said: "I can assure you that there will be no change in policy on the location of Megrahi's imprisonment. He will serve his full prison sentence in Scotland."