FACTBOX: Libyan Lockerbie bomber freed, returning home

(Reuters) - The Scottish government decided on Thursday to free Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi from prison on compassionate grounds and he will return home to Libya.

Here are five facts about Megrahi:

MEGRAHI IN PRISON:

* Megrahi was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2001 for his part in blowing up New York-bound Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.

-- Megrahi denies he played a part, saying he was an airline executive, not a Libyan intelligence agent as charged.

* He was held in a prison in the town of Greenock in western Scotland as he was tried and convicted under Scottish law, although the trial was held in the Netherlands.

* In November 2008 Megrahi's lawyers asked a court to free him on bail, saying he was suffering from advanced prostate cancer.

* Libya lobbied for Megrahi's release in 2009, saying in May it had applied to the Scottish government for him to be sent home as part of a prisoner transfer agreement. In July Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asked British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for help with the case. Earlier this week Scotland's most senior judge said he has accepted Megrahi's request to withdraw his appeal. The decision opened the way for Megrahi to be sent home.

LIFE DETAIL:

* Megrahi, 57, is married with five children. His wife and children have been able to visit him in prison in Scotland. He speaks Arabic and English, which he learned as a student in the United States.