The wounds of Lockerbie looked as raw as ever as Mr Muammar Gaddafi declared innocent the Libyan agent convicted of the airliner bombing, and welcomed home with an embrace his acquitted co-accused.
Libya and other Arab countries demanded that sanctions against Tripoli be lifted following the end of the trial in The Netherlands, but the United States and Britain insisted the isolated north African state had not yet earned a full pardon.
Mr Gaddafi personally welcomed home to Tripoli Mr Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, the acquitted co-accused of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for the 1988 attack on Pan Am Flight 103 and the murders of 270 people.
"I have proven evidence that he (Megrahi) is innocent and I'll reveal the evidence on Monday," Mr Gaddafi told reporters at his official residence.
Mr Gaddafi said: "In the Lockerbie case there are as I see it three options in front of the judges: either to commit suicide, to resign or to admit the truth."
Suspicious that blame for the bombing lies at the heart of Mr Gaddafi's state, US and British leaders said Libya still must accept responsibility for Lockerbie and pay compensation before sanctions can be fully ended.
At a London news conference, British relatives of the bomb victims said today they would not be content until they knew the motives of those who murdered our loved ones.
"Megrahi cannot have done it on his own," said Mr Jim Swire, a tireless campaigner whose daughter Flora died at Lockerbie.
In Edinburgh, Scotland's top legal officer, Lord Advocate Colin Boyd, told the Scottish parliament the convicted Libyan agent was clearly not acting alone, but new evidence was needed before any further charges could be pressed.
A spokesman for American families of victims said the conviction of Megrahi pointed directly to Mr Gaddafi as the author of the attack.
Reuters