U.S. cancer expert: “There are simply too many unanswered questions and I believe we have not heard the truth."
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the release of the Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi last year. Washington -- The Libyan agent serving a life sentence for bombing Pan Am Flight 103 was released from a Scottish prison last year based on “medically unjustifiable” conclusions that he was near death, a top cancer specialist told a U.S. Senate committee today.
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was released by Scotland in August 2009 on “compassionate” grounds after doctors said he had aggressive prostate cancer, and only three months to live. Megrahi returned to Libya to a hero’s welcome and remains alive today.
Megrahi was the only person convicted of bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. The terror attack killed 270 people, including 35 Syracuse University students returning from a semester abroad and five others with ties to Central New York.
Dr, James Mohler, founder of the prostate cancer program at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, testified Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Megrahi’s prognosis from Scottish doctors had no basis in fact.
“In my 23 years of experience caring for more than 2,000 prostate cancer patients and reading clinical studies that evaluated thousands of patients in similar conditions, there is no conceivable way a cancer specialist or anyone familiar with the treatment of prostate cancer could have given a three-month prognosis…” Mohler told the committee.
Mohler said his conclusion was based on the fact that Megrahi began chemotherapy in Scotland, a treatment which typically extends a patient’s life from 17 to 19 months or more.
If Megrahi truly had three months to live when he was released from prison, he would not have been able to walk the stairs of the plane that took him to Libya, nor would he have looked as fit as he did in television recordings of his release last year, Mohler said.
Mohler told senators that a person with aggressive prostate cancer in their final three months of life would “look like a prison camp survivor.”
Mohler was among about a half-dozen witnesses called to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. The committee is investigating the circumstances surrounding Megrahi’s release, a move that outraged families of Pan Am 103’s victims and prompted protests from the U.S. government.
The committee also heard from Ambassador Nancy McEldowney, the State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
McEldowney said the United States was in unequivocal in its messages to Scottish and United Kingdom authorities that U.S. officials opposed any release of Megrahi to Libya.
“I am troubled to hear some suggestions that there was anything less than clarity about the U.S. position,” McEldowney said.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., had asked for the hearing to help determine if Megrahi’s release was linked to political pressures linked to oil-drilling deals between Libya and British oil giant BP.
“We have a responsibility to investigate why a convicted terrorist, responsible for taking hundreds of innocent lives, including 185 Americans, now walks free and lives a life of luxury, and how an oil company was able to reap actual profits from the course of events,” Gillibrand said.
U.S. Sen, Robert Menendez, D-N.J, the committee chairman, said the testimony from the experts raises more doubts about the legitimacy of Megrahi’s release.
“What we learned in this hearing only raises additional questions,” Menendez said. “I am deeply troubled at the lack of cooperation we have received in trying to get to all of the facts.”
Menendez said he was troubled that BP officials have repeatedly refused to testify before the committee, and that Scottish authorities would not release more information about “an incredibly flawed, if not purposely manipulated” process that led to Megrahi’s release.
“There are simply too many unanswered questions and I believe we have not heard the truth about Mr.Megrahi’s medical care,” Menendez said.
Based on the new information, Menendez said he would continue to call on the British government to open its own independent investigation.
Contact Washington correspondent Mark Weiner at mweiner@syracuse.com or 571-970-3751.