London, Aug 18 (DPA) The Libyan man convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in which 270 people died moved a step closer to being freed from jail Tuesday as a court in Scotland accepted his bid to drop an appeal against his life sentence passed nine years ago.

Judges at the High Court in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, agreed to the request of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to abandon his appeal after hearing that the 57-year-old, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, would not have long to live.

Recent moves to free al-Megrahi, convicted to life in 2001 for Britain's biggest terrorist atrocity, have led to tensions with the US government which has made clear it wants him to serve out his minimum 27-year-term in a jail in Scotland.

But the British government has said it sees no international legal obstacles to prevent the Scottish government, which is independent on judicial matters, from returning al-Megrahi to Libya.

'His absolute priority in the little time he has left is to spend it with his family in his homeland,' Margaret Scott, the Libyan's defence lawyer, told the court.

Her client's medical condition had worsened 'very considerably' recently, she said. His prognosis was 'extremely limited', added Scott.

The abandonment of al-Megrahi's second appeal, launched in April, was a precondition for his possible release under a prisoner transfer agreement signed between Libya and Britain earlier this year.

It comes amid separate moves by the independent regional government of Scotland to consider his release on health grounds.