Lockerbie bombing families to hold news conference

A pair of U.S. senators and the families of Lockerbie bombing victims will hold a news conference Monday in Times Square ahead of this week's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the matter.
Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey will chair Thursday's hearing on last year's release by Scotland of a Libyan man convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pam Am Flight 103 that killed 270 people. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York also is a member of the committee.
They were part of a group of four senators who met for 45 minutes last week with Prime Minister David Cameron, asking the British leader for an independent investigation into the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi and any possible involvement by oil giant BP might have had. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York and New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg also attended. All are Democrats.
Most of the victims in the bombing were Americans. The flight was headed from Frankfurt, West Germany, to New York via London, England, when it exploded in the air.
Al Megrahi was convicted in the case and sentenced to life in prison. The Scottish government released him on compassionate grounds last August after doctors said he had terminal prostate cancer and just three months to live.
Al Megrahi is still alive, and news reports in recent days have questioned whether he was as sick as depicted. Questions also have been raised about whether a deal was cut to release him to protect British business interests in Libya, possibly involving oil giant BP.


Under the Scotland Act 1998, Scotland has its own government that is responsible for most of the day-to-day issues there, including the justice system.
Menendez has invited Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who made the decision to release al Meghrahi, to testify before the Foreign Relations Committee.
Andrew Fraser, the physician who gave the medical prognosis that led to al Megrahi's release, and former British Justice Secretary Jack Straw have also been asked to attend. All have declined to this point, a statement from the senators said.
At a joint news conference last week, Cameron and U.S. President Barack Obama blasted the decision by Scottish authorities to release al Megrahi.
Cameron promised that the British government will cooperate with the U.S. congressional investigation into the controversy, though he stressed that the decision to release al Megrahi was made by the Scottish government without any involvement from BP.
Obama said most Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" about the decision to let al Megrahi go.
BP has said it expressed concern to the British government in late 2007 about the slow progress of a prisoner transfer agreement that Britain and Libya were negotiating, saying it could have had a "negative impact" on British commercial interests.

But the company has denied involvement in any talks with either the British or Scottish governments specifically about al Megrahi's release.