Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi

[speedybiker]

Seems he may be allowed to go home

 

[Mike Walker]

IMHO opinion both he and Biggs should remain where they were put as per their original sentences - simple really?

 

[Dryce]

Seems he may be allowed to go home

Apparently if you are involved in the planned and cold blooded killing of almost three hundred people you deserve compassionate treatment.

The Labour UK government sits back and hands it over the Scottish government (nicely convenient that it's not their problem).

Then we have SNP MSPs shedding tears over the guy because they don't have the guts to do the right thing which is to slam the door, throw away the key, and let the world forget the perpetrators so that we can remember their victims with compassion.

But this side of the border we have Alec "Unpardonable Folly" Salmond as first minister so what do you expect?

 

[jpskiller]

do the crime, do the time, thats all there really is too it, if you have to die in prison so be it

 

[amwebby]

Study your enemy very closely, for you will become him. - Confucious

 

[JumboBeef]

I know people who live in Lockerbie: they all say he didn't do it anyway.

 

[SilverSaloon]

i heard on the local radio that some priest was saying we should have mercy on him. personally i think we should show him as much mercy has he did the victims of the disaster

leave him where he is. how the hell have we got to the point where we are even considering releasing mass murderers. whether people think he is innocent or not, he has been convicted in a court of law....

madness and the start of all sorts of similar things happening. maybe biggs was the start of it.

 

[Dryce]

I know people who live in Lockerbie: they all say he didn't do it anyway.

It does look like he became the fall guy for not just a larger group of his colleagues but Libya itself. He and a whole bunch of other people should have been serving time for this.

But that's not the point. He's been convicted. Given the magnitude of the crime in which he participated you either pardon him if wrongly convicted or keep him behind bars. But you don't go all gooey eyed and talk about compassion.

 

[grober]

Lockerbie bomber's release agreed

The Lockerbie bomber is to be released on compassionate grounds, the Scottish Government has announced. Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, was jailed in 2001 for the atrocity which claimed 270 lives in 1988. Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill revealed that the Libyan, who has terminal prostate cancer, would be allowed to return to his homeland.
The BBC understands he will be flown to Tripoli on a specially chartered plane due to leave Glasgow after 1400 BST. It was expected that three months was a "reasonable estimate" of the time Megrahi had left to live.
Part of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's statement follows which can be read in full here. Scottish Executive: Web site currently unavailable.

"Scotland will forever remember the crime that has been perpetrated against our people and those from other lands. Some hurt can never heal. Some scars can never fade. Those who have been breaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive. Their pain runs deep and the wounds remain.---------
"However, Mr Al Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. It is one that no court, in any jurisdiction, in any land, could revoke or overrule. It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die.


However, Mr Macaskill said Scots defined themselves by their humanity.
"Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them.
"But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days."
Mr MacAskill continued: "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available.
"Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs the we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people - no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.
"For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that Mr Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminaly ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."

The right decision for the right reasons. Scotland is a stronger not a weaker nation because of it IMHO.

 

[stevieb15]

I know people who live in Lockerbie: they all say he didn't do it anyway.

They weren't on the jury, were not the judge, didn't give evidence, didn't attend the hearing.
I think I'll go with the verdict of those who heard the evidence.

 

[SilverSaloon]

another sad day for British justice. just shows what a farce the whole country is. i'm just about done with it to be honest!!!!!!!!!!!

the floodgates for all the other lowifes who normally would of died in jail are well and truly open

8 years in jail for mass murder.

 

[Dryce]

The right decision for the right reasons.

Maybe on some other planet.

Scotland is a stronger not a weaker nation because of it IMHO.

LOL. (sarcastically)

I have no sensible or even remotely polite response to this statement.

 

[amwebby]

Maybe on some other planet.

LOL. (sarcastically)

I have no sensible or even remotely polite response to this statement.

A sensible and reasoned argument would be nice.

 

[stevieb15]

Maybe on some other planet.



LOL. (sarcastically)

I have no sensible or even remotely polite response to this statement.

I agree entirely, the really irritating thing is, those who hold these sadly misguided views are in a tiny minority but for some incomprehensible reason their opinions are the only ones to count.

 

[Dryce]

Reasoned argument would be nice.

Sometimes it's just not possible.

 

[Dryce]

those who hold these sadly misguided views are in a tiny minority but for some incomprehensible reason their opinions are the only ones to count.

Traditionally very few people stand up and become passionate advocates for victims of crime. Silent majority effect.

But on the other side a few people do become passionate advocates on behalf of the perpetrators.

The Hanratty case is the one that sticks in my mind. The surviving victim was left alive and the passionate and articulate advocates for Hanratty ignored her because she wasn't on their side. Their view was the one that got heard while she was sidelined and even misrepresented.

Then the DNA test went against them three decades later.

And they finally shut up.

... but they didn't AFAIK ever apologise.

 

[rf065]

The Labour UK government sits back and hands it over the Scottish government (nicely convenient that it's not their problem).

Then we have SNP MSPs shedding tears over the guy because they don't have the guts to do the right thing which is to slam the door, throw away the key,

Don't blame Scotland, this deal was brokered by Tony Blair a couple of years ago before the guy even had cancer. Lets lay the blame where it really lies.
Westminster then forced the SNP to accept it or else.

Russ

 

[Dryce]

Don't blame Scotland, this deal was brokered by Tony Blair a couple of years ago before the guy even had cancer. Lets lay the blame where it really lies.
Westminster then forced the SNP to accept it or else.

I don't see the SNP pointing the finger at slick Tony on this one.

Which is the first thing they'd do if they had been fixed up.

Instead they are *justifying* it!

So are they culpable or have they been bought off. Whichever? Not good for the people.

 

[stevieb15]

I don't see the SNP pointing the finger at slick Tony on this one.

Which is the first thing they'd do if they had been fixed up.

Instead they are *justifying* it!

So are they culpable or have they been bought off. Whichever? Not good for the people.

When did the criminal justice system in this country ever take account of whats good for the people or in accord with the wishes of the people?

 

[Dryce]

When did the criminal justice system in this country ever take account of whats good for the people or in accord with the wishes of the people?

Well at the bottom of the judicial ecosystem you might start by asking the jury members about some of their reasoned decisions.