US relatives pleased at Lockerbie bomber's death

The United States said Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi's death in Libya on Sunday ends an unfortunate chapter over his release, but relatives of American victims welcomed the news.

Megrahi, 60, who was suffering from prostate cancer died shortly after 1 pm (1100 GMT), almost three years after he was freed from a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds in a hugely controversial political decision.

The explosion that downed Pan Am flight 103, which was bound for New York, above Lockerbie, killed all 259 passengers -- 189 of them Americans -- and 11 people on the ground on December 21, 1988.

Susan Cohen, whose daughter Theodora was one of the victims, said Megrahi did not deserve the comfort of dying with relatives at his side.

"He deserved to die," Cohen, who lives in New Jersey, told CNN. "He was a mass murderer. I feel no pity around him. He got to die with his family around him. My daughter, at age 20, died a brutal, horrible death."

Barbara Zwynenburg of West Nyack, New York, whose 29-year-old son Mark died aboard the plane, told CNN on Sunday: "It's about time. I'm glad he's dead."

Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 2009, a decision that angered victims families and caused a rift between Scotland's devolved government in Edinburgh and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, relying on doctors' who said Megrahi probably had three months to live, allowed him to travel home to Libya where he was welcomed as a hero, further fueling the row over his release.

On Sunday, US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Megrahi's death "concludes an unfortunate chapter following his release from prison in 2009 on medical grounds -- a move we strongly opposed."

Vietor said President Barack Obama's administration was now working for a full accounting of the "horrific acts" of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, who was in power when the bombing took place.

Bert Ammerman, whose 36-year-old brother Tommy died in the blast above the southern Scottish town, said he was "pleased and relieved," Megrahi was dead.

"This man was responsible for blowing people out of the air at 39,000 feet," Ammerman told Fox News, reminding viewers that some of the victims suffered by being alive the entire time that the aircraft plummeted to the ground.

"When he was released, that was the most angry I was in the 24-year saga," he said. "That was a despicable act."

The reaction from US families notably differed from Jim Swire, the father of a British victim of the bombing who campaigned for Megrahi's release believing him to be innocent, who said he felt sad over the bomber's death.

"I have been satisfied for some years that this man was nothing to do with the murder of my daughter," Swire said.

"Scotland has a big question to answer as to why his verdict hasn't long since been reviewed," he told BBC Television.

A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted Megrahi of the bombing which sent debris from the jet raining down on Lockerbie, a town of only a few thousand people situated around 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Edinburgh.

British Prime Minister David Cameron rejected calls for an inquiry into the conviction, but told reporters at a NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday that he had "always been clear he should never have been released."

"This has been thoroughly gone through. There was a proper process, a proper court proceeding and all the rest of it," Cameron, whose Conservative Party was in opposition when Megrahi was freed from jail.

"I'm very clear that the court case was properly done and properly dealt with. Today is a day to remember the 270 people who lost their lives in what was an appalling terrorist act," Cameron added.

But Scottish leader Salmond argued that Megrahi's death vindicated his administration -- which can make decisions on justice matters independently of the British government.

Megrahi's death "puts to rest some of the conspiracy theories which have attempted to suggest that his illness was somehow manufactured -- today's news confirms what we have always said about his medical condition," Salmond said.

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