Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, is writing his autobiography to “proclaim his innocence” by disclosing new information behind Britain’s deadliest terrorist attack, The Times has learnt.

Abdurrhman Swessi, Colonel Gaddafi’s official envoy to Scotland, disclosed yesterday that al-Megrahi was working on a book that would detail his life behind bars and reveal all he knows about the bombing in 1988 of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people.

The freed bomber’s lawyers had collected evidence for an appeal against his conviction that he dropped last week as a necessary condition to qualify for release on compassionate grounds. The book is expected to be used as al-Megrahi’s platform to argue that he was framed for the crime.

“He’ll be writing a book to proclaim his innocence,” Mr Swessi said from Tripoli during an interview conducted in Arabic. This comes after al-Megrahi said in an interview with The Times last week that he would produce new evidence to the “British and Scottish communities ... and ask them to be the jury”.

Mr Swassi, who was made Libya’s Consul-General in Glasgow to represent the convicted bomber’s interests, emphasised that al-Megrahi would write the book without assistance or intrusion from the Libyan Government.

The only English word used by the envoy during the ten-minute telephone interview was “scapegoat”, a reference to al-Megrahi, whose supporters claim that he was singled out by the West as part of an elaborate international conspiracy.

Al-Megrahi had been planning his book long before his release from prison was approved. Mr Swessi, who accompanied the dying man on his flight to Tripoli, said that the former prisoner will devote his energies to completing the book.

“At the time being he’s preoccupied with meetings and welcoming visitors so he doesn’t have the time to completely focus on it,” he said. “Insha-allah [God willing], he has his mind set on writing the book.”

Asked if he would help al-Megrahi to write the book, Mr Swessi — the closest official to the case, whose role was set up with the intention of lobbying the Scottish government for the bomber’s release — said: “He’s been making notes and will not require any assistance.”

During an interview with The Times in December, al-Megrahi’s wife, Aisha, said that her husband was regularly writing notes about aspects of his life and what had led to his imprisonment in the hope of one day getting a book published.

Asked during that interview at the former family home near Glasgow what would come of all the notes if al-Megrahi, 57, does not live to tell the tale, she said: “I will write a book myself.”

Mr Swessi added that the Obama Administration’s expressions of outrage over the bomber’s release were entirely without merit; a comment that is understood to be the strongest yet made by a Gaddafi government official.

Robert Mueller, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who led the US legal investigation into the Lockerbie massacre, accused the Scottish government of emboldening terrorists by freeing al-Megrahi, the only person to be convicted of the bombing.

Mr Swassi said: “It’s all political talk and it’s meaningless. He deserved to be released because he is innocent, of course. He did not commit the crime. His innocence is well known and the Scottish government knows that very well.”

Mr Swessi insisted that Downing Street had nothing to do with the release. “It was the Scottish who made and delivered on their decision and that’s that,” he said.

“The issue was in the hands of the Scottish government and had nothing to do with anyone else.”

Mr Mueller, director of the FBI since 2001, accused Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, of “making a mockery of the rule of law” in a personal letter sent on Friday and released for publication.

“Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of ... the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process ... the terrorist will be freed by one man’s exercise of ‘compassion’,” he writes.

“Your action rewards a terrorist, even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the Government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.”

The Lockerbie trial was heard by three Scottish judges sitting without a jury. A co-accused Libyan, Al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was cleared of involvement in the murders.

richard.kerbaj@thetimes.co.uk

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