The Lockerbie 'Bomber'....

[Dick Moby]

I don't think he should have been released but I am pleased that we managed to show two fingers to certain US politicians who DEMANDED that he should stay in prison.

[Arginald Valleywater]

On a positive note we will no longer be feeding him and treating his illness. Will save a tidy sum that the Scottish Parliament can spend on a new solid gold throne for Alex Haddock.

[max_tranmere]

Many say he had nothing to do with it. Even the father of a woman who died at Lockerbie, and who has spent a lot of time watching everything that has happened since, says he is sure the guy is innocent. The man who released him, the Scottish Justice Minister, has a colourful past - according to Wikipedia. He was a central figure in organising Scotland's opposition to the Poll Tax in the late-1980's, in what was called the "Cant Pay, Wont Pay" campaign. Even though the Poll Tax was very unfair and wrong, it is not ethical for a politican to encourage people to break the law. He was also arrested at an Airport for beng drunk and disorderly. Aswell as that he apparently has not got on with his party leader Alex Salmond on many occasions. Often, when this happens in political parties, someone like that is promoted in order to shut them up. This guy is a relative nobody with a not terribly clean past - and he is now world famous. He will either have his career made, or broken, by his decision to have the Lockerbie bomber released today.

[Meatus]

Yes he should have,

he was Innocent! And he had to be released. He was launching an appeal and in all likelihood would have been found not guilty. This would have been a major embarrasment and opened a hole can of worms! And most likely a substantial compensation claim. So in order to get out of the situation they have offered him his freedom so long as he dropped his appeal. Which effectively means he will always be guilty of the crime in the eyes of the law!

If i was him i would have stuck it out. He only has a couple of months to live, he should have carried on fighting and cleared his name!

[jj]

I guess, we'll never know for certain.... 4WIW I believe he was a
patsy- and throughout the whole sorry business those in power
seemed to have very little interest in ascertaining who were the
governmental instigators of the attack.
His release at least amply demonstrates to the Muslim world what I
think of as the West's moral superiority- "the quality of mercy is
not strain'd...." and all that.

I was disappointed that Libya sought fit to give him a hero's welcome.
Tactless at best; extremely insulting to the bereaved.

The waters were further muddied by this piece of ill-informed nonsense
from the Telewag:
"There is something deeply unsettling about the reported intention of
the Scottish executive to release the Libyan man convicted of the
Lockerbie bombing on "compassionate" grounds....."
It's in the constitution, and thus elected officials are bound by it.


"..........has just months to live. This may well be true
but it is not, of itself, a reason to free him. There are precedents,
in the English judicial system at least, for terminally ill prisoners
dying in custody, Myra Hindley among them".
There are precedents for releasing such prisoners too. And this
'journalist' omitted to mention that two considerations bearing
upon Hindley's continuing detention were her state of mind, and
the likelihood of revenge-attack. Al-Megrahi has effectively been
deported, and his exact location in Libya will not be revealed.


".....Yet there was enough circumstantial evidence against al-Megrahi
to convince eight judges .....and an official judicial inquiry that he
should be tried in the first place. Al-Megrahi is currently in the
throes of another appeal against his conviction...".
As said above, the 'circumstantial' has never been sufficiently
tested at law; his appeal would probably have succeeded. But the
UK government clearly has no interest in further embarrasssing their
'refound friend' Khadafy..... I would imagine that the Cabinet Office
is quietly pleased at this resolution.

[jj]

The US diplomacy over this has scored yet another a major own-goal.

They came over as vindictive, bullying, ill-informed and arrogant.
For a nation that came up with Guantanamo it seems ever so slightly
rum to presume to lecture the UK on matters of justice : -)

[Jonone]

That's fuckin' Kafkaesque !

[Lossieboy]

was watching Newsnight last night and they said that the main witness who owned the shop in Malta was paid $1,500,000 by the U.S. Government a week after the conviction.

Says it all really