Fresh calls for the release of the Lockerbie bomber’s medical records were made yesterday amid reports he could be dead within a month.
Tories made the demand after a specialist claimed the Libyan’s cancer had spread.
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi, 58, is no longer being treated for the disease and is bed-bound at home, according to UK cancer expert Professor Karol Sikora.
The terrorist was said to have less than three months to live when he was freed from prison and allowed to return to Libya on compassionate grounds last August.
Prof Sikora, who compiled a report on Megrahi’s condition for the Libyan government before he was freed, dismissed claims his condition may have been exaggerated.
The doctor said the cancer had spread from his prostate to his kidneys, liver, pelvis and lymph nodes.
Prof Sikora said Megrahi’s life may have been extended by the “psychological boost” he received from being surrounded by his family.
The specialist said: “He will be dead within four weeks.
“My understanding is that he’s bed-bound, at home, not going to the hospital, receiving palliative care and no active treatment at all.”
Megrahi’s hospital treatment was reportedly stopped because he was no longer responding to chemotherapy.
Labour and Tory MSPs have demanded that full details be published of why he was released.
Tory justice spokesman Bill Aitken said Prof Sikora’s comments were “all the more reason for releasing the medical reports”.
Mr Aitken added: “He’s lived for the best part of nine months now and we want to see the medical reports.”
He added: “The decision to release Megrahi should not have been taken on the basis of one clinician’s view.
“There was only one person who made the diagnosis.
“If it was a relative of mine I wouldn’t be happy with that – I would want to get at least a second opinion.”
A spokesman for Mr MacAskill said: “Mr Megrahi has terminal prostate cancer, and he was sent home to die based on the medical report of the Scottish Prison Service director of health, and the recommendations of the parole board and prison governor – and the Scottish Government has published all of this information.”
Megrahi is the only man to have been convicted of the Lockerbie atrocity, which saw 270 people killed in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on December 21, 1988.
Anger at his release turned to outrage when cheering crowds greeted his arrival in Tripoli.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill cited the three-month prognosis when he released him last August.
It emerged last month that Megrahi had blocked the release of medical reports when asked for his consent by East Renfrewshire Council, which is in regular contact with him under the terms of his release.
Prof Sikora, medical director of the cancer care network CancerPartnersUK, was asked by the Libyan government to give an independent medical assessment of Megrahi last summer.
