Aug 20, 2009 12:00 pm US/Eastern
Pan Am 103 Victims Families Furious Bomber Freed
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, Libyan found guilty of Pan Am flight 103 bombing, walks on to plane following his release from prison, Aug. 20, 2009, Glasgow International Airport, Scotland.
AP
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Pan Am flight 103 cockpit wreckage, December 22, 2008, Lockerbie, Scotland.
AP
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Relatives of Americans killed when
Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland nearly 21 years ago are furious
Scotland released the one man convicted in the bombing.
270 people were killed when the jumbo jet was blown up by a terrorist bomb on December 21, 1988.
8 YEARS SERVED OF LIFE SENTENCE
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi of Libya was released Thursday after serving eight years of a life sentence in a Scottish prison.
There were 189 Americans on the flight, including 13 from Massachusetts.
The bombing was the deadliest terrorist attack against the United States until September 11, 2001.
'ABSOLUTELY APPALLING'
Eleanor Bright of Dover lost her husband Nicholas, a businessman, on Flight 103. Their son was just one year old at the time.
"I think it's absolutely appalling," she told WBZ's Eileen Curran Thursday.
"I think it comes down to political expedience, the economics of oil and trade. The UK has a lot of desire to go into Libya for oil and other business. This was a way everyone could get what they wanted."
"This has really brought me back to that place again. It's really painful."
BOMBER HAS JUST MONTHS TO LIVE
Scottish officials said the former Libyan intelligence officer's prostate cancer was advancing and that they were bound by Scottish values to release him.
He was recently given only months to live.
Dr. Ervin Philipps, now of Boston, formerly of Newtonville, lost his 20-year-old daughter Sarah on Pan Am 103.
She was one of
35 Syracuse University students on the flight.
He isn't as angry as other victims' relatives.
"I don't mind as much as others do. If the man has a terminal illness, he should have the opportunity to reconcile what he did in his life and be with his family," he told WBZ Thursday.
"We can't change it. My sweet daughter has been gone 21 years now. There's nothing I can do about it."
KERRY KENNEDY LETTER
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had urged Scotland not to release al-Megrahi, and seven U.S. senators wrote a letter with a similar message.
Two of the seven were Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.
"Megrahi showed no compassion to the innocent passengers and Scottish villagers he murdered; he should not receive our compassion now," Kerry said in a statement Thursday.
"Justice is ill-served by his early release. Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison for this terrorist attack and he should serve out his full sentence behind bars in a Scottish prison, end of story."
The 13 victims from Massachusetts:
- Julian Benello, 25 years old, Brookline
- Nicole Boulanger, 21, Shrewsbury
- Nicholas Bright, 32 , Brookline
- Gary Colasanti, 20, Melrose
- Army Capt. Joseph Patrick Curry, 31, Fort Devens
- Mary Alice Lincoln Johnson, 25, Wayland
- Julianne Kelly, 20, Dedham
- Wendy Lincoln, 23, North Adams
- Daniel Emmett O'Connor, 31, Dorchester
- Sarah Philipps, 20, Newtonville
- James Pitt, 24, South Hadley
- Cynthia Smith, 21, Milton
- Thomas Walker, 47, Quincy
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
CBS News Interactive: Pan Am Flight 103
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