Date: Aug 25, 2009
Gordon Brown has said he was "angry and repulsed" by the welcome in Libya for Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al Megrahi.
It is the Prime Minister's first comments on the controversy since Megrahi was released from a Scottish prison last week.
But he still declined to say if he agreed with the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill to free him on compassionate grounds.
Megrahi received a hero's welcome in the Libyan capital Tripoli after being released from the jail where he was serving life for the 1988 attack on a Pan Am jet that killed 270 people.
Mr Brown said the British Government "had no role" in the decision to free Megrahi and insisted its "resolve to fight terror is absolute".
Speaking in Downing Street, the PM said: "When I met (Libyan leader) Colonel Gaddafi over the summer, I made it absolutely clear to him that we had no role in making the decision about Megrahi's future."
He also dismissed suggestions the decision by Mr MacAskill would undermine Britain's relationship with the US and its other allies against terrorism.
Asked whether he thought it was the right or wrong decision to release Megrahi, Mr Brown said his first thoughts had been with the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing.
The PM went on: "I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber guilty of a huge terrorist crime received on his return to Libya."
But he added the decision to release the Libyan was up to Scottish officials.
After Mr Brown made his comments, Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News: "The country is astonished that it has taken the Prime Minister five days to say anything on Lockerbie."
Megrahi, who has always protested his innocence, has terminal cancer and reportedly only has a few months to live.
The 57-year-old's release sparked a bitter diplomatic row with America, where people have been urged to boycott British goods in protest.
Despite the row, Mr Brown had not said a word publicly - despite breaking off his holiday to congratulate the England cricketers on their Ashes victory.
Mr Brown broke his silence over Megrahi during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The British PM had been described as "cowardly" by the Tories for failing to comment on the issue.
Meanwhile, more documents relating to the return of the Lockerbie bomber to Libya will be published within days, the Scottish Government has promised.
It said "all relevant information" on the two applications for Megrahi to be freed will be published before a Scottish Parliament debate next Wednesday.
The authorities were asked to transfer him to a Libyan jail or grant him an early release on compassionate grounds. They eventually decided on the latter.
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