Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Lockerbie bomber
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, Lockerbie bomberReuters

The terrorist convicted for the deaths of 270 airline passengers over Lockerbie, Scotland, has died at home in Tripoli, Libya, with his family by his side.

Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, 59, was sentenced to life in prison by a court in The Hague in 2001.

A Libyan intelligence officer, Megrahi consistently denied any responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988.

It was the deadliest terror attack ever to be committed in the air, with the exception of the September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda attack on the United States of America.

But the terrorist was freed on parole by the Scottish government in 2009 in an appeal based on compassionate grounds because he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Upon his return to his native Libya, he received a hero's welcome, to the fury and disgust of the U.S. government and the families of his victims.

The United States and Britain both asked the Libyan rebels who took over the reins in Libya that al-Megrahi be extradited so that justice could be done but were told that Libya would not extradite any citizen to a Western nation.