London June 09: Former South African President Nelson Mandela will on Monday visit the Libyan man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, officials said Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Parliament said Mandela would visit Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi at Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow, west Scotland. ``We understand that Mr. Mandela is arriving at Barlinnie to visit al-Megrahi tomorrow morning,'' she said on customary condition of anonymity.


Mandela played a crucial role in persuading Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to hand over two men suspected of involvement in the 1988 bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. A total of 270 people were killed, 189 of whom were Americans.


Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 20 years. The second Libyan was acquitted.


The Scottish Prison Service said Sunday it could not comment on the visit. However, Strathclyde Police confirmed that security arrangements were in place for Mandela coming to Glasgow. Mandela's office was closed Sunday and his spokeswoman Zelda la Grange could not immediately be contacted for comment.


``He's had a personal involvement in this case throughout, so it would only be expected of him to go there and see the prisoner and see the conditions in the prison,'' la Grange said last week when she announced Mandela's plans to visit Scotland. Bureau Report