London - More than 20 years after the Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people and soured Libya's relations with the West the Libyan authorities have asked for the man convicted of the atrocity to be returned home from jail in Britain.

The official Libyan request that seriously-ill Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, 57, should be returned to serve the rest of his life term in Libya follows the ratification last week of a prisoner transfer agreement between the British and Libyan governments.

Al-Megrahi, who has been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, launched his second appeal against his conviction at the Appeal Court in Edinburgh, Scotland, last week, protesting his innocence and claiming that he was a victim of a "miscarriage of justice."

However, a transfer would require al-Megrahi to drop the current appeal proceedings in which he hopes to clear his name.

The Scottish government said Wednesday that the Libyan request would be considered, but that a decision could take up to three months.

"The application will be considered by officials who will provide information and advice to Scottish ministers for decision on this matter," a spokesman said.

"Under the terms of the agreement this process may take 90 days although it could be longer if further information is required in relation to the application, or for another reason," he added.

Al-Megrahi, an alleged former Libyan intelligence agent, was tried under Scottish law at a special court set up at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands and sentenced to life in January 2001, with the judge ruling that he would have to serve at least 27 years.

He was found guilty of the bombing of PanAm flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, in which 259 passengers - mostly US citizens - and 11 people on the ground were killed.

The atrocity led to Western sanctions against Libya, which were only lifted after lengthy negotiations over a massive pay-out to victims' families and an acceptance of responsibility by Libya following al-Megrahi's conviction.

However, his lawyers have argued that the case was based "wholly on circumstantial evidence" and riddled with contradictory evidence about al-Megrahi's involvement.

In particular, they claim that no evidence had been provided at the trial of a trip al-Megrahi was alleged to have made to Malta weeks before the bombing.

Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) member of parliament Christine Grahame said Wednesday that she believed the transfer would go ahead.

"I firmly believe on the evidence I have seen that Mr Megrahi would win his appeal and clear his name," she said.

"Unfortunately, because he is terminally ill, time is not on his side and it is understandable, on a personal level, why he would want to return to his homeland given his failing health," she added.

British doctor Jim Swire, who led a long campaign for justice and compensation after losing his daughter, Flora, in the bombing, agreed Wednesday that al-Megrahi should be allowed to go home.

"I am not opposed to this, simply because I don't believe the man is guilty as charged and I don't think Megrahi should be in prison," said Swire.

The British government, which signed the prisoner transfer deal with Libya in 2007, has consistently denied that any deal has been struck over the future of al-Megrahi.