Lockerbie bomber greeted as hero on return to Libya (video)

20 August 2009 @ 05:47 pm EDT

The Libyan man convicted of blowing up a US airliner over Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people including 189 Americans, has arrived at home Thursday and he was greeted as a hero after being set free.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, was released by Scottish government on grounds of compassion.

Megrahi has prostate cancer with three months to live and had served eight years of a life sentence in Scotland.

US President Obama said today it was "a mistake" to release the Lockerbie bomber and must not receive a hero's welcome and should be placed under house arrest.

On Thursday, police took Megrahi from Scotland's Greenock Prison to Glasgow Airport to board a private jet owned by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Hundreds of people waved Libyan flags as the plane landed at Tripoli airport.

Loudspeakers blared patriotic music and a ceremony with the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was said to be planned.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times.

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