TIMELINE: Key dates in Lockerbie bombing case

(Reuters) - The Scottish government is poised to decide whether to allow the former Libyan agent convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing to be released from prison and return home, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Following are key dates in the case:

December 21, 1988 - Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York blows up over Scotland, killing all 259 people aboard the Boeing 747 jumbo jet and 11 residents of the town of Lockerbie.

November 14, 1991 - United States and Britain accuse Libyans Abdel Basset al Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima of involvement.

March 31, 1992 - U.N. Security Council Resolution 748 tells Libya to surrender the suspects. Libya refuses and sanctions are imposed on April 15.

April 21, 1998 - After years of wrangling between Libya, Britain and the United States, the suspects' Libyan lawyer says he agrees with victims' families on a trial in the Netherlands under Scottish law.

August 24 - U.S., Britain and the Netherlands agree to that plan and receive Security Council backing three days later.

April 6, 1999 - Suspects appear before court at Camp Zeist, a former U.S. base in the Netherlands, and are charged with the bombing and 270 murders.

April 20 - European Union suspends sanctions against Libya, although United States continues to apply similar measures.

May 3, 2000 - Trial begins at Camp Zeist with defense suggesting two Palestinian groups were responsible.

January 31, 2001 - The three judges find al Megrahi guilty of murder and acquit Fahima. Al Megrahi gets life sentence.

February 5 - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi says Libya is innocent and U.S. investigators manipulated evidence. Washington and London say Gaddafi failed to meet conditions for permanent cancellation of U.N. sanctions.

February 28, 2002 - Gaddafi's son says Libya will pay compensation to families of the victims even if al Megrahi is acquitted on appeal.

March 14 - Judges turn down al Megrahi's appeal, upholding his murder conviction.

March 11, 2003 - Libya reaches political agreement with the United States and Britain to accept civil responsibility and pay up to $10 million per victim, some $2.7 billion in total.

August 15 - Libya, in a letter to the United Nations, accepts responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing.

September 12 - Security Council votes unanimously to adopt resolution lifting the sanctions on Libya.

November 24 - Scottish judges rule al Megrahi must serve a minimum of 27 years before he can apply for parole.

June 28, 2007 - The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission announces the High Court must hear a new appeal by al Megrahi, a step it takes in cases where it believes there may have been a miscarriage of justice.

November 6, 2008 - Lawyers for al Megrahi ask a court to free him on bail because he has cancer.

April 28, 2009 - Al Megrahi launches second appeal to try to reverse his conviction before a panel of five judges at Edinburgh's High Court.

April 29 - Libya signs an agreement with Britain to allow the transfer of prisoners between the two countries, removing an obstacle to any future deal to repatriate al Megrahi.

May 6 - Libya says that it has applied to the Scottish government for al Megrahi to be sent back home. The process could take around 90 days.

July 10 - At a meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, Gaddafi asks Prime Minister Gordon Brown for help with Megrahi's case. Brown's spokesman says that Gaddafi asked for help in letting Megrahi return home, but Brown made it clear the decision was up to the Scottish government.

August 5 - Scotland's justice secretary meets al Megrahi for talks on whether he should be released from prison on compassionate grounds.

August 12 - An American lawyer who worked on al Megrahi's defense team says he is to be released imminently on compassionate grounds. And a Libyan official in Tripoli says an agreement was "in the last steps."

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Louise Ireland)