Family rejects calls to send Lockerbie bomber to jail,says hes near death

He is between life and death,so what difference would prison make? said his brother,Abdel-Nasser al-Megrahi,standing outside the familys house in an upscale Tripoli neighbourhood.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi,who was convicted for the bombing in 2001,was freed from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in August 2009,after doctors estimated he had three months to live. He was greeted as a hero in Libya and appeared on TV in a wheelchair at a pro-Gaddafi rally.

His release,after serving eight years of a life sentence,infuriated the families of many Lockerbie victims,most of whom were American. Some critics of his release have long suspected it was motivated by Britains attempts to improve relations with oil-rich Libya.

Two New York senators recently asked Libyas transitional government to hold al-Megrahi fully accountable for the Pan Am bombing. But on Monday,rebel Justice Minister Mohammed al-Alagi said there was no legal case for al-Megrahi to be charged or deported to the West.

Abdel-Nasser al-Megrahi,though,said his brother can barely communicate. Hes in a coma, he said,adding that he occasionally awakes for a few minutes and asks for his mother. He doesnt move,not even in his bed. It is natural for him to be with his family and his mother, he said. Anyone,either Libyan or Scottish,would have mercy.

Nic Robertson of CNN reported having seen Megrahi at his villa in Tripoli ,where his family said that it was caring for him without help and that he was dying. We just give him oxygen, the report quoted Megrahis son,Khaled,as saying. Nobody gives us any advice. There is no doctor. We dont have any phone line to call anybody.