Lockerbie bomber in coma, near death, brother says

[August 29, 2011]  TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- The brother of the Libyan man convicted in the Lockerbie bombing says he is in a coma and can no longer communicate with his family.

The Scottish government released Abdel Baset al-Megrahi in 2009, believing he would soon die of cancer. He was greeted as a hero in Libya and met with Moammar Gadhafi.

Speaking outside the family home in Tripoli, his brother Abdel-Nasser said Monday that al-Megrahi will not return to prison in the West, as some have requested, because he is "between life and death."

New York senators on Aug. 22 asked the Libyan rebels' transitional government to hold al-Megrahi fully accountable for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.

Rebel leaders have said they will not extradite him.

[Associated Press]

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