Gaddafi raises Lockerbie bomber with Brown

By Matt Falloon

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - Libya's Muammar Gaddafi on Friday asked Prime Minister Gordon Brown for help in the case of the dying former Libyan agent who is appealing against a life sentence for the 1988 Lockerbie aircraft bombing.

The Scottish Appeal Court said this week the case would not be concluded until next year, raising concerns that 57-year-old Abdel Basset al-Megrahi -- who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer -- will die before the appeal finishes.

"Gaddafi raised the issue of Mr Megrahi," Brown's spokesman told reporters at the G8 summit in Italy, where the two leaders held bilateral talks, the first time they had met.

"The Libyans reiterated their longstanding position that they would like to see him go back to Libya. The prime minister made clear it was a matter for the Scottish government."

The Libyan and British governments signed a prisoner transfer agreement this year and Tripoli has sought Megrahi's return. But Scotland has a separate legal system from the rest of Britain and his fate lies with the Scottish government.

Brown told a news conference after the summit he had raised with Gaddafi "unfinished business" involving British policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, 25, who died after being hit by shots fired from the Libyan embassy during an anti-Gaddafi protest in 1984.

Her death led to Britain severing diplomatic relations with Libya for 15 years. It resumed ties in 1999 after Tripoli agreed to cooperate with a probe into her death and pay compensation.

Nobody has been convicted and recent press reports have said British police, who have made several visits to Libya, want to return to the country to make more inquiries.