Terminally ill Lockerbie bomber freed from prison

(NECN/ABC) – Before 9/11, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988 was the symbol of terrorist savagery. 270 died, many of them Americans. Today, a man convicted in the attack is on his way home to Libya, after serving just eight years of a life sentence. Officials in Scotland freed him on compassionate grounds, drawing a protest from the United States, and outrage from victims’ families. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent, is dying of prostate cancer. Scottish authorities believe he has only about three months to live. The 1988 crash left an enormous crater in the town of Lockerbie. Megrahi was the only person ever convicted of the bombing, but has insisted all along he was innocent. Al-Megrahi, 57, was convicted in 2001 of taking part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988. He was sentenced to life in prison. The airliner exploded over Scotland, and all 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground died when it crashed into the town of Lockerbie. After his release today, he boarded a plane bound for Libya and will spend the rest of his so-called life sentence at home with his family. ABC’s Linsey Davis reports.