The terminally ill Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie jetliner bombing and recently released from prison has taken a sharp turn for the worse in the past day, his brother and doctors told Reuters.

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, "has deteriorated rapidly since yesterday. He is unable to speak to anyone," his brother Abdenasser Megrahi told Reuters Saturday at the Tripoli Medical Centre.

Abdel al-Megrahi is being treated in a special ward at the facility, his brother said.