The Lockerbie bomber was freed from jail on the basis of a medical report that ignored the standard treatment.
Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi was released after the director of the Scottish Prisons Medical Services assured politicians he was expected to die within three months because his prostate cancer was resistant to “any treatment”.
But the report did not mention a standard chemotherapy medicine that Megrahi, 58, is receiving at a clinic in Tripoli, which has since increased his life expectancy by 18 months.
The revelation will increase political pressure over the bomber’s release as Libya celebrates the first anniversary of his freedom on Friday – with a party thrown by Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif, according to the British Daily Mail.
Colonel Gaddafi is reported to have ordered prayers for Gordon Brown and Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary who authorised the release.
A cancer expert familiar with Megrahi’s treatment said the prognosis on his life expectancy in the report by Andrew Fraser had not taken into account the possibility of treatment.
“The moment he returned to Tripoli, he was put on chemotherapy. This normally increases life expectancy by 18 months,” the expert said.
Megrahi is now being treated with docetaxel at the Tripoli Medical Clinic.
Karol Sikora, one of the three experts who assessed Megrahi’s health for Libyan authorities, was quoted by Britain’s Observer on Sunday as saying he should have been more cautious.
“If I could go back in time, I would have probably been more vague and tried to emphasise the statistical chances and not hard fact,” Professor Sikora, dean of the School of Medicine at Buckingham University, was quoted as saying.
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