FACTBOX: Release of Libyan Lockerbie bomber from jail

(Reuters) - British politicians on Friday condemned celebrations in Tripoli on the return of the Lockerbie bomber, attempting to deflect any international political fallout from the decision to free him on humanitarian grounds.

The Scottish government released the terminally ill Abdel Basset al-Megrahi from prison on Thursday.

Here are some key facts about Megrahi:

MEGRAHI IN PRISON:

* Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison in 2001 for his part in blowing up the New York-bound Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. Judges ruled in 2003 that he must serve a minimum of 27 years before he could apply for parole.

-- 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 that 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. This week Scotland's most senior judge said he had accepted Megrahi's request to withdraw his appeal, a decision that opened the way for Megrahi to be sent home.

PERSONAL LIFE:

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