[JURIST] US lawmakers are calling for an investigation [press release] into the role that oil company British Petroleum (BP) [corporate website] may have played in obtaining an early release for convicted Pan Am Flight 103 [BBC backgrounder] bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi [BBC profile]. The lawmakers are asking that the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] investigate whether BP played a role in lobbying for the release of al-Megrahi in exchange for a 2007 contract [AP report] with Libya allowing the company to drill in the country’s coastal waters. Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence official, was released from custody [JURIST report] last August on compassionate grounds after being diagnosed with cancer and subsequently returned to his native Libya. His release was controversial, with both US officials and the Scottish Parliament [JURIST reports] condemning his release. In a letter to the committee [text, PDF], Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) [official website] stated that serious questions remain regarding the veracity of medical reports detailing al-Megrahi’s health at the time of his release as well as regarding BP’s role in the negotiations for his freedom. Lautenberg cites BP’s 2007 admission that they, “told the UK … it was concerned that a delay in concluding a prisoner transfer with the Libyan government might hurt” the oil deal as evidence that further investigation is warranted. The call for a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation comes one week after a group of senators, including Lautenberg, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) [official websites], urged the British government to conduct a “full, transparent” investigation [press release] into the circumstances surrounding al-Megrahi’s release.

Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of the Pan Am bombing and sentenced to 27 years in prison, which he subsequently appealed. In November 2008, the Scottish High Court of Judiciary [official website] denied al-Megrahi’s request to be released [JURIST report] on bail during the appeals process. In March 2008, lawyers for al-Megrahi were denied access to a “missing document,” that they had sought in appealing his conviction [JURIST reports]. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) [official website] granted an appeal [JURIST report] in al-Megrahi’s case in June 2007 and referred it the High Court after the commission identified six grounds for a possible “miscarriage of justice” [press release, PDF] in his trial and conviction. In 2003, Libya made its final compensation payment [JURIST report] to a US fund for victims’ families in November 2008 after agreeing to accept responsibility for the 1988 airline bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed all 259 on board [memorial website] including 180 Americans.