Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi has vowed to prove his innocence before he dies; days after being released on compassionate grounds.
Megrahi flew home to Libya on Thursday when the Scottish government said they would release him eight years into a 27-year sentence for the deaths of 270 people, 180 of those American, on board Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.
The 57-year-old is terminally ill and has only been given several weeks to live. But a warm reception, described in some quarters as a hero's welcome, upon his return to Libya has sparked anger with the victims' families and with Britain and the US.
'My message to the British and Scottish communities is that I will put out the evidence and ask them to be the jury,' Megrahi said from his home in Libya to the Times newspaper.
'If there is justice in the UK I would be acquitted or the verdict would be quashed because it was unsafe. There was a miscarriage of justice.'
He added: '[Victims' families] believe I'm guilty which in reality I'm not. One day the truth won't be hiding as it is now. We have an Arab saying: 'The truth never dies'.'
But when Megrahi was asked who was responsible for the Lockerbie bombing, he said he was 'not the right person to ask'.
Four years after Megrahi's conviction in 2001 Libya admitted responsibility for the terrorist act, leading to a restoration of ties between Tripoli and the west.
London has described the scenes upon the bomber's return as 'deeply distressing', while Barack Obama said the reception was 'highly objectionable'.
Since returning home, Megrahi has also been scene on Libyan TV with the country's leader Muammar Gaddafi, who thanked Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill for his deeply-controversial decision to release the bomber.
Megrahi flew home to Libya on Thursday when the Scottish government said they would release him eight years into a 27-year sentence for the deaths of 270 people, 180 of those American, on board Pan Am flight 103 in 1988.
The 57-year-old is terminally ill and has only been given several weeks to live. But a warm reception, described in some quarters as a hero's welcome, upon his return to Libya has sparked anger with the victims' families and with Britain and the US.
'My message to the British and Scottish communities is that I will put out the evidence and ask them to be the jury,' Megrahi said from his home in Libya to the Times newspaper.
'If there is justice in the UK I would be acquitted or the verdict would be quashed because it was unsafe. There was a miscarriage of justice.'
He added: '[Victims' families] believe I'm guilty which in reality I'm not. One day the truth won't be hiding as it is now. We have an Arab saying: 'The truth never dies'.'
But when Megrahi was asked who was responsible for the Lockerbie bombing, he said he was 'not the right person to ask'.
Four years after Megrahi's conviction in 2001 Libya admitted responsibility for the terrorist act, leading to a restoration of ties between Tripoli and the west.
London has described the scenes upon the bomber's return as 'deeply distressing', while Barack Obama said the reception was 'highly objectionable'.
Since returning home, Megrahi has also been scene on Libyan TV with the country's leader Muammar Gaddafi, who thanked Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill for his deeply-controversial decision to release the bomber.
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