Lockerbie prisoner is persecuted, says Mandela

Nelson Mandela has called for an end to the "psychological persecution" of the Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, and pleaded that he be allowed to serve the remainder of his life sentence in a Muslim country.

The former South African president, who brokered the deal that allowed Abdelbaset Ali Mohammed al-Megrahi to stand trial in a Scottish court in the Netherlands, spent more than an hour yesterday with the former Libyan agent in his cell at the notorious Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow.

He said it was unjust that al-Megrahi should have to suffer the "secondary punishment" of serving his sentence on his own when there were "plenty" of Muslim countries trusted by the West and capable of taking care of him.

Al-Megrahi was convicted of murder for smuggling a bomb aboard Pan Am flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish border town of Lockerbie on 21 December 1988 with the loss of 270 lives.

The visit by Mr Mandela, who spent 27 years as a political prisoner in South Africa, fulfilled a promise that he would inspect al-Megrahi's prison conditions. He said: "Al-Megrahi is all alone. He has nobody he can talk to. It is a psychological persecution that a man must stay for the length of his long sentence all alone.

"It would be fair if he transferred to a Muslim country. It will make it easier for his family to visit him if he is in a place like the Kingdom of Morocco, Tunisia or Egypt."

Although Mr Mandela refused to comment on his personal view of al-Megrahi's guilt or innocence, he echoed a report produced by the Organisation for African Unity, which raised concerns that the trial had not been fair, in line with "recognised fundamental principles of natural law". He described how four judges from the OAU who observed the trial at Camp Zeist "criticised fiercely" the "legally indefensible" conviction.

The report concluded that "the case against [al-Megrahi] cannot by any stretch of the imagination be said to have been proved ... [and] the entire conviction is based upon flawed premises".

Mr Mandela said: "From the point of view of fundamental principles of natural law, it would be fair if he is given a chance for another appeal." He called for the case to be allowed to go before either the Privy Council or the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Al-Megrahi is kept in a cell of his own within the prison, in a section nicknamed by other inmates Gaddafi's café. Mr Mandela said that although the Libyan was segregated from other prisoners and treated well by officials, he was still regularly abused by inmates who "harassed" him while he was exercising in the prison yard.

"He cannot identify them because they shout at him from their cells through the windows and sometimes it is difficult even for the officials to know from which quarter the shouting occurs. Thankfully he is a strong chap."

Mr Mandela, who plans to return to Scotland next month to meet relatives of the Lockerbie victims, said he hoped to have talks with Tony Blair and President George Bush to discuss the case in the near future.

He also met al-Megrahi's wife, Aisha, and members of his family, who plan to move to Scotland to be closer to him, and his lawyer Eddie MacKechnie, who claims to have new information that had not been made available to the court. Mr MacKechnie said yesterday: "An $11m payment was made by the government of Iran to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command two days after the atrocity."

He said the information had come from a former CIA officer who had given details of times, dates and bank accounts.