http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Lockerbie_from_above.jpgIn 2007, Tony Blair signed a Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Libya.
In Scotland, the legal system and prisons are the responsibility of the Scottish government in Edinburgh.
However, international treaties are not the responsibility of the Scottish government.
Reportedly, the London government now believes that the Prisoner Transfer Agreement is an international treaty. (Full story)
This suggests a deal has been done to let al Megrahi return to Libya.
The alleged 'Lockerbie Bomber' al Megrahi is due in a Scottish court on 20 February 2008 as part of his appeal against his conviction.
The full appeal hearing is not likely to be held until later in 2008.
The Scottish government does not want al Megrahi to be involved in the Prisoner Transfer Agreement.
The governments of the US and UK might prefer to send al Megrahi back to Libya as quickly as possible, in order to prevent the full appeal being heard.
At the full appeal there may be testimony which suggest that:
1. The CIA faked the evidence against al Megrahi.
2. The CIA was smuggling heroin on PanAm flights.
3. Agents of the CIA brought down PanAm 103 in order to silence the whistleblower Major Charles McKie, his team and his evidence. (The CIA and the Lockerbie Bomb / aangirfan: Lockerbie, Drugs and the CIA / aangirfan: Lockerbie - new forensic tests suggest evidence was ... / journalists: Lockerbie Truth / aangirfan: Monzer al-Kassar alleged CIA asset)
The Scottish government's First Minister, Alex Salmond has said (Assurance call on bomber transfer) that anyone connected with the Lockerbie atrocity should be excluded specifically from any prisoner transfer agreement.
"Until very recently, that was also the position of the UK Government," said Salmond
Salmond spoke out on Lockerbie after the Financial Times reported that Libya had just ratified a £450m contract with oil company BP, after UK ministers drafted a prisoner transfer agreement that it claimed could cover al Megrahi. (Libya jail swap deal clears way for BP)
It emerged on 3 February 2008 that Libya has now ratified the Prisoner Transfer Agreement and that the agreement now contains no clause excluding al Megrahi. (Row erupts over Lockerbie bomber)
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The government in Scotland is a Scottish National Party government. It does not have a mojority in the Scottish Parliament. Tories and Greens refuse to back SNP budget
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