Britain faced threats from Libya that it would cut all ties with the country if the ailing Lockerbie bomber died in prison in Scotland, confidential US cables released by WikiLeaks show.
Libyan officials warned their British counterparts that "consequences for the UK-Libya bilateral relationship would be dire were [Abdelbaset] al-Megrahi to die in Scottish prison," read one dispatch from the US ambassador to Tripoli in January 2009.
Threats included the cessation of all British commercial activity in Libya and demonstrations against British facilities, as well as suggestions Britons in the country could be put at risk, according to the cables released on Tuesday.
It went on to say that if Washington publicly opposed the release, "the US Embassy and private Americans in Libya could face similar consequences".
And despite London's attempts to publicly distance itself from the decision to release al-Megrahi, which was made by the devolved Scottish government, the cables showed the British ambassador in Tripoli "expressed relief" about al-Megrahi's imminent release.
"They could have cut us off at the knees, just like the Swiss," the ambassador, Vincent Fean, is cited as saying, in reference to a dispute between Libya and Switzerland prompted by the arrest of the Libyan leader's son.
Compassionate release
Al-Megrahi was the only person ever convicted over the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, most of them US nationals.
He was released in August, 2009, on compassionate grounds after doctors diagnosed him with prostate cancer and gave him just three months to live, sparking outrage in the US.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/12/20101286931729749.html
