Britain's Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, pledged in a letter made public yesterday that the Libyan convicted of the 1988 mid-air Lockerbie bombing would serve the rest of his life sentence in Scotland.
His comments came after the former South African president, Mr Nelson Mandela, said last month that he thought Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi should be transferred to serve his jail term in a Muslim country.
In a letter to fellow member of parliament Mr Russell Brown, whose constituency covers the Scottish town of Lockerbie, Mr Straw gave assurances that al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence agent, would not be transferred.
"I can assure you that there will be no change in policy on the location of al-Megrahi's imprisonment," Mr Straw wrote. "He will serve his full prison sentence in Scotland."
Al-Megrahi was found guilty of murder in January 2001 for smuggling a bomb aboard Pan Am Flight 103.
The US aircraft exploded over the southwestern town of Lockerbie on December 21st, 1988, killing all 259 passengers and crew as well as 11 people on the ground.
Mr Mandela, who spent more than 20 years in prison under South Africa's apartheid regime, played a crucial role in persuading Libya to hand over the two men suspected of involvement in the Lockerbie bombing.
The second suspect, Mr Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was acquitted.
Mr Mandela told relatives of British victims of the bombing last month that Egypt and Tunisia were prepared to let the convicted bomber serve his sentence in their countries if Britain agreed to a deal.
Mr Mandela paid a visit to al-Megrahi in June to check on the conditions at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison, where he is being held.
Mr Straw wrote that UN monitors had said that al-Megrahi's guards in Glasgow showed "commendable" awareness of cultural and religious sensitivities.
- (AFP)