Reporting from London - Amid continued allegations of political deal-making, Scottish officials said Monday that the early release of the only man convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Scotland was motivated solely by humanitarian and judicial concerns, not commercial ones.British interests in Libya's large oil and gas reserves were irrelevant to the decision to release Abdel Basset Ali Megrahi, a suspected Libyan spy found guilty in 2001, said Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's deputy first minister.Megrahi, 57, is in the advanced stages of terminal prostate cancer and was set free Aug. 20 from a Scottish prison on "compassionate grounds" to spend the remainder of his life with his family in his homeland."That was a decision taken entirely on justice grounds," Sturgeon told the BBC. "There were no influences relating to political or economic interests that played any part in that."Libyan officials also rejected suggestions that a contract won by British oil company BP in 2007 to explore for oil in their country influenced the decision to release Megrahi."Linking this [contract] with a deal over Megrahi makes me laugh," said Mohammed Siala, secretary for international cooperation at the Libyan Foreign Ministry, according to Reuters news service. "We have our laws and tender process, and BP is a very good actor in the oil field and we are satisfied with what they are doing."The release of someone convicted of mass slaughter, followed by footage of his being greeted by crowds of well-wishers upon returning to Libya, has whipped up a storm of protest in the U.S., home to the majority of the passengers on Pan Am Flight 103, and in Britain. The bombing, the deadliest terrorist attack on or over British soil, killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland.Libya turned Megrahi over to British authorities in 1999 in exchange for an easing of United Nations sanctions. He was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment after a trial that critics say was based on tainted evidence.Megrahi has steadfastly maintained his innocence, and supporters, including some of the victims' families, believe he was wrongly convicted.The decision to release him was made by Scotland's devolved government, which has independence from London in judicial matters. But that has not insulated British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Cabinet from scrutiny.Over the weekend, a British newspaper reported that the central government had originally sought to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner-transfer agreement that was under discussion between London and Tripoli as part of their improving relations.In late 2007, London reversed course and dropped the exclusion "in the view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom," said a letter written at the time by Justice Minister Jack Straw, according to the Sunday Times. Shortly after, BP sealed the $24-billion contract to conduct oil and gas exploration in Libya.Straw denied any quid pro quo."Was there a deal -- a covert, a secret deal -- ever struck with the Libyans to release Mr. Megrahi in return for oil? No, there was not," Straw told the BBC."We wanted a normalization of relations with Libya," he added. "That was in the United Kingdom's interests, and the reason for that is that we had uncovered a huge nuclear-weapons program of the Libyans, which they'd been conducting wholly in secret."In 2003, Libya agreed to allow in nuclear inspectors to dismantle its weapons program, an important milestone in Tripoli's coming in from the diplomatic cold.In any case, Straw noted, Megrahi was not released under the prisoner-transfer agreement but on compassionate grounds.
Since the August 20 release of , who was convicted of planting a bomb on , there has been growing controversy surrounding the events which led to his release. Pan Am Flight 103 exploded in-flight in 1988 as the aircraft flew over , Scotland, killing all 259 people on board and eleven more on the ground. Al Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted of the bombing.
Kenny MacAskill 
In recent years, the British government has negotiated oil development deals with Libya. As part of the negotiations, at least three UK ministers traveled to Libya in the months leading up to Al Megrahi's release.

Leaked letters from UK   to his Scottish counterpart, , stated that it was in the "overwhelming national interests" of the UK to include Al Megrahi in prisoner transfer agreements which were part of the oil trade deals. These letters have lead to widespread speculation that the British government influenced the Scottish decision to release Al Megrahi.

Al Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds as he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. However, this diagnosis was called into question as '''' revealed that the health director of the , Dr. Andrew Fraser, relied on the advice of a  instead of an , when issuing his recommendation for release. 

When Al Megrahi returned to Libyan soil, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi thanked Gordon Brown and  for his release.

, the son of Muammar al-Gaddafi, has stated that during the prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) phase the trade negotiations, the Al Megrahi case was not specifically named, yet it was implied.
Jack Straw
"The fight to get the prisoner transfer agreement lasted a long time and was very political, but I want to make clear that we didn't mention Mr Megrahi. At all times we talked about the PTA. It was obvious we were talking about him. We all knew that was what we were talking about," he said.

In Scotland, the release of Al Megrahi has caused significant debate. A poll conducted for the BBC by  found that 60% of Scots thought the  was wrong to allow the release. 68% believe the decision was made fore reasons that did not pertain to Al Megrahi's health.
Muammar al-Gaddafi 
"No one I think seriously believes we made any other decision except for the right reasons,"  Alex Salmond said on Wednesday. "I think it was the right decision. I also absolutely know it was for the right reasons."

"We didn't think that the Lockerbie decision should be linked to trade or oil decisions by anyone who looked at the coincidence that the prisoner transfer agreement was being negotiated at the same time as commercial contracts," Salmon also stated.

The  stated Monday that, "There was no deal over the release of al-Megrahi nor could there ever be, since all decisions were for the Scottish, not U.K. government."

"The central assertion in this story is completely untrue and deeply misleading,"  added.

Correspondence released on Tuesday by the UK government shows that Abdulati Alobidi, the Libyan minister to Europe warned of "catastrophic effects for the relationship between Libya and the UK," if Al Megrahi were to die in prison in Scotland.

When Salmond asked Straw what the national interests of the UK were, Jack Straw replied, "Having sponsored terrorist attacks in the past, it Libya is now an important partner in the fight against terrorism." Libya approved a large oil exploration contract to  within days of the letter.

Libyan officials have said that since al-Megrahi's return to Libya, his health has deteriorated. He was not part of the 40th anniversary celebrations for Gaddafi's coup d'état held on Tuesday.