U.S. deeply regrets freeing of Lockerbie bomber

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States "deeply regrets" the decision by Scottish authorities to free a Libyan convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the White House said on Thursday.

The Scottish government said earlier that former Libyan intelligence agent Abdel Basset al-Megrahi was being freed on compassionate grounds as he is dying of cancer. A Libyan government spokesman said later he was released and was being flown home.

"The United States deeply regrets the decision by the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi," the White House said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said she was "deeply disappointed" and Megrahi should have served out his life sentence.

"We have continued to communicate our long-standing position to U.K. government officials and Scottish authorities that Megrahi should serve out the entirety of his sentence in Scotland," Clinton said in a statement.

"Today, we remember those whose lives were lost on December 21, 1988 and we extend our deepest sympathies to the families who live each day with the loss of their loved ones due to this heinous crime," she added.

The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in mid-air above the Scottish town of Lockerbie killed 270 people. The United States and the relatives of many of the 189 Americans killed had opposed Megrahi's early release.

Megrahi, 57, was the only person to be convicted for the bombing. He lost an appeal against his conviction in 2002, but a Scottish review of his case ruled in 2007 that the case may have been a miscarriage of justice.

Suse Lowenstein, of Montauk, New York, whose Alexander Lowenstein was killed at age 21, said of Thursday's news:

"It is so devastating and it is difficult for me to accept that the one man we had responsible for the murders of our son and the 270 victims in total is now going home to die in the arms of his family. It is just beyond comprehension.

"He has the luxury to be at home with his family, which our son did not have. He was murdered at the age of 21, and surely if he had to die he would have liked to die with us as well. There was certainly no thought of compassion applied to that," she said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Sue Pleming in Washington and Daniel Trotta in New York; Editing by Vicki Allen and Paul Simao)