Dr Jim Swire, spokesman of UK Families Flight 103 says the present debate over the health prognosis of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi distracts from analysis of the "elephant in the room", the guilt or otherwise of Megrahi in the Pan Am 103 incident.

Swire points out that the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission stated a miscarriage of justice may have been committed against Megrahi, and it is "desperately important that the conduct and outcome of his trial be re-examined".

"How can we have confidence in our legal system which has itself - through the SCCRC - expressed doubt over the case?" he asks.

"There is 'an elephant in the room' which we ignore, as Holyrood largely did, at our peril. On its flank is written 'WAS HE GUILTY?' We ignore it at the peril of having copious doodoo dumped upon all of us. That would be hard to scrape off."

Swire, a former GP, criticises the debate and points out that Megrahi's health will have naturally improved since his return to his family.

"The opinion of one of the UK's most distinguished oncologists was available to Kenny MacAskill. I have spoken to that specialist and confirmed his opinion. Estimates of likely life span are based on statistics and are pretty useless for application to an individual. 'How long have I got, doc?' is one of the hardest questions for a doc to answer," he says.

"Two highly relevant things happened to Meghrahi's health on his release.

1.) he exchanged the stress of a prison cell for the love of his family.
2.) He received unspecified intensive treatment in Tripoli.

"There is no way we can discover which of these is the more important in his prolonged survival. To those who wish him dead I would say 'send not to ask for whom the bell tolls' - you might be next.

"The real issue is whether he was ever guilty. The verdict however at present stands unchallenged."