Washington - Four US senators asked Scotland's government on Tuesday to release the Lockerbie bomber's medical records, saying that would help answer questions about his release on compassionate grounds.
The senators are probing the circumstances surrounding the release of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, convicted of the deadly 1988 bombings of an airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. Scottish authorities freed him last year, saying he had three months to live. He is still alive.
Most of the 270 people killed in the bombing were Americans, and Megrahi's release and triumphant homecoming in Libya provoked an outcry in the United States.
US anger over the release resurfaced recently after suggestions British energy giant BP had lobbied Scotland for Megrahi's release. BP and Scottish ministers have denied the accusations.
The senators wrote to Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond asking the government to provide "full medical information" or to request Megrahi's permission to release the information, if that is necessary.
"We understand that an extensive medical record was used as the basis of the decision to release Mr al-Megrahi, but only one three-page medical document with redactions has been released by the Scottish government," they wrote.
"A more complete medical record may help us understand exactly what Mr al-Megrahi's treatment options were and thereby help clarify questions about his prognosis."
They referred to recent news reports that suggested the prognosis was based on the opinion of a single doctor, rather than a team of specialists who had been treating the convicted bomber.
The letter was signed by Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. All are Democrats.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had planned a hearing last month on Lockerbie, but postponed it after witnesses from Britain refused to appear, including BP's former CEO, Tony Hayward, former British Justice Minister Jack Straw, and Scottish officials. - Reuters