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A court in Scotland is set to announce whether it will release a Libyan man jailed for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 that killed 270 people over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish government's justice secretary, was expected to announce his decision on Thursday (12:00GMT) in the case of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who is serving a life sentence in Scotland.
"He has reached his (decision)," the Scottish government said in a statement, amid British news reports that the court was likely to release al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.
Al-Megrahi, who has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, is hoping for either a prison transfer to Libya or to be released to return to his family there.
"His absolute priority in the little time he has left is to spend it with his family in his homeland," Maggie Scott, his lawyer, told Edinburgh's high court earlier this week.
She said his condition was "very grave" and that he was "very weak, he is suffering from severe pain and he is in distress".
Libyan appeal
The Libyan government had appealed to the court to consider the two options for al-Megrahi, but relatives of the victims and political leaders in the US have urged Scotland to keep the former Libyan agent behind bars.
Al-Megrahi, who has repeatedly protested his innocence, lost an appeal in 2002 and last year failed to secure his release on the grounds he was dying.
In May this year, his lawyers began an appeal against his conviction at a court in Edinburgh, saying the case against him was flawed.
Under a transfer agreement signed between Libya and Britain, al-Megrahi could be sent back to Libya to serve the remainder of his minimum 27-year jail sentence.
Four years after al-Megrahi's conviction in 2001, Libya accepted responsibility for the attack and agreed to pay about $2.7bn in compensation to the families of those killed in the attack.
That move prompted the lifting of international sanctions against Libya and led to a restoration in diplomatic ties between Tripoli and the West.
PHOTO CAPTION
A policeman stands outside the main entrance of Greenock prison, where Libyan Abdel Basset al-Megrahi is currently imprisoned, near Glasgow, Scotland August 20, 2009.
Al-Jazeera
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