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The fall of Muammar Qaddafi's regime in Libya has reignited the controversy surrounding the 2009 release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi from jail, especially in recent days as new details have emerged about the Libyan's health, whereabouts, and prospects for returning to prison. Scottish authorities released Megrahi, the only person convicted in the 1988 bombing of New York-bound Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, two years ago on the grounds that he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer and had only months to live. Megrahi received a hero's welcome when he returned to Tripoli (see photo above) and lived longer than expected, appearing at a pro-Qaddafi rally in Tripoli in a wheelchair in late July.
The rebel seizure of Tripoli once again shone the spotlight on Megrahi, as his Scottish parole officers scrambled to locate him and American and British politicians demanded that Libya's new rulers extradite Megrahi. Then, on Sunday, CNN's Nic Robertson tracked down Megrahi in rebel-held Tripoli, only to find him lying on a hospital bed with an oxygen mask, comatose and near death. Scottish officials, meanwhile, have defended their decision to release Megrahi and reiterated that he is dying of cancer, while rebel leaders have announced that they have no intention of extraditing the Lockerbie bomber.