Lockerbie bomber boards plane home
The Lockerbie bomber has left Scotland on board a plane bound for Libya after being freed from prison on compassionate grounds.
Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, was jailed in 2001 for the atrocity which claimed 270 lives in 1988.
The decision to release Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was made by the Scottish Government.
US president Barack Obama said the decision was "a mistake" and some US victims' families reacted angrily.
Some 189 Americans were among those who died in the explosion.
Megrahi was released from Greenock Prison
police convoy left Greenock Prison, where Megrahi was serving his sentence, more than an hour after the announcement of his release was made.
He was taken to Glasgow Airport to board the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus plane bound for Tripoli, which took off shortly before 1530 BST.
The government said it had consulted widely before Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill made his decision on applications for Megrahi's compassionate release or his transfer to a Libyan jail. He told a media conference on Thursday that he had rejected the application for a prisoner transfer.
However, after taking medical advice it was expected that three months was a "reasonable estimate" of the time Megrahi had left to live.
He ruled out the option of the Libyan being allowed to live in Scotland on security grounds.
And Mr MacAskill stressed that he accepted the conviction and sentence which had been handed to Megrahi.
"Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them," he said.
"But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days."
Mr MacAskill continued: "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available.
Fiona Trott
BBC News correspondent, in Lockerbie
After the Scottish justice secretary made his announcement, life continued as normal in rain-soaked Lockerbie.
People were surprised by the decision he made - the real question was whether they had a strong opinion about it.
When the bombing happened 21 years ago, this town was full of army personnel and the emergency services and local people who helped that night became heroes.
But it happened a generation ago, and, while some American victims' families say his release is incomprehensible, people here in Lockerbie say they don't see things in black and white.
Two families were wiped out here, but the immediate families of the other victims no longer stay in Lockerbie. Some say it's right Megrahi has been released because he is very ill.
Does the decision bring everything to a close? People here say no.
Even though they have put the event in the past, tourists from across the world still come here.
For them, Lockerbie will always be known as the place where PAN AM flight 103 came down.
"For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that Mr Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."
Mr MacAskill had been under intense pressure from the US government to keep Megrahi behind bars, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying his release would be "absolutely wrong".
"Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs the we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people - no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated," he added.
In a statement released after his departure from HMP Greenock, Megrahi continued to protest his innocence.
He said: "The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction.
"I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope that my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will never now be lifted.
"The choice which I made is a matter of sorrow, disappointment and anger, which I fear I will never overcome."
Reacting to the decision, US president Barack Obama said: "We have been in contact with the Scottish Government, indicating that we objected to this and we thought it was a mistake."
He said they had also contacted the Libyan government to ask that Megrahi not be "welcomed back" but instead placed under house arrest.
"We've also obviously been in contact with the families of the Pan Am victims and indicated to them that we don't think this was appropriate," he added.
The bombing claimed 270 lives