The Scottish government will announce tomorrow whether it will release a Libyan convicted of the 1988 bombing of an airliner over Lockerbie that killed 270 people, the regional administration said today.
Former Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi could be freed early via a prisoner transfer deal or on compassionate grounds because he has terminal cancer, although Washington has said it wants him to remain behind bars.
Scotland's justice minister Kenny MacAskill will announce his decision at 12pm.
"He has reached his decisions on the applications," the Scottish government said in a statement.
Megrahi, 57, was convicted in 2001 of the murder of all 259 people on board a Pan Am Boeing 747 and 11 killed on the ground when the aircraft exploded in mid-air above the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
The US government and the relatives of many of the 189 American victims oppose Megrahi's early release and say he should serve his full life sentence in prison.
However, the families of many of the Britons killed in the bombing believe he should be allowed to go home to die. Some also say the evidence presented at his trial was not strong enough to find him guilty.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters: "It is absolutely wrong to release someone who has been imprisoned based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime."
Britain's Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy appeared to rebuke the government in Edinburgh for failing to make an announcement on Megrahi a week after media reports said he would be freed.
"They should get on and make the decision because it is dragging on and it is becoming a little bit embarrassing," Mr Murphy said in televised comments to reporters.
Scotland's devolved government is responsible for justice and other policy areas.
Mr MacAskill is considering two requests from Megrahi to be released early, on compassionate grounds or under a prisoner transfer agreement between Britain and Libya.
Megrahi can be transferred only when all active criminal proceedings have ended. While Scotland's High Court accepted his request to drop his second appeal yesterday, the process has yet to be finalised. A further hearing is due in three weeks.
Scotland's judicial authorities must also drop their own appeal against Megrahi's original sentence, which they saw as too lenient.
Reuters