Word: libya
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...fireworks exploded over Tripoli - almost all Western leaders stayed away - the controversy over al-Megrahi's release continued in the U.S. and Britain, where some victims' families and politicians say they suspect that Britain secretly traded al-Megrahi's freedom for big oil deals in energy-rich Libya. (See pictures of Lockerbie 20 years...
...attempt to tamp down the scandal, the British and Scottish governments published a batch of letters online on Sept. 1 detailing the discussions over how to handle al-Megrahi. The letters date back to June 2007, when British oil companies were negotiating huge new deals in Libya. In February 2008, British Justice Minister Jack Straw wrote to Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, that "developing a strong relationship with Libya ... is good for the U.K.," adding that Libya "is one of only two countries to have ever voluntarily and transparently dismantled its weapons of mass destruction program...
...David Miliband] would want Mr. Megrahi to pass away in prison, but the decision on transfer lies in the hands of the Scottish ministers." If the critically ill al-Megrahi died in jail, the Libyan minister told Scottish officials, there would be "catastrophic consequences" for Britain's relations with Libya. (Watch a TIME video with Gordon Brown...
...correspondence, Justice Minister Straw didn't specifically mention Libya's oil wealth. But the importance of maintaining Britain's good ties with Gaddafi is clear in the letters, as when Straw explained why he chose not to exclude al-Megrahi from a prisoner-transfer agreement between Britain and Libya that was signed in November 2008. "I do not believe it is necessary, or sensible, to risk damaging our wide ranging and beneficial relationship with Libya," he wrote, before signing off, "Yours, Jack...
...Despite suspicions among some politicians and some of the victims' families of a secret deal between Libya and Britain, Prime Minister Brown and key Cabinet members have insisted that al-Megrahi's release was decided solely by Scotland's Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill, who freed him on compassionate grounds, saying he was dying of prostate cancer and had only three months left to live. (Read "Was Oil Part of a Deal for the Lockerbie Bomber...