Scotland on Sunday

Scotland on Sunday has two articles and an editorial on Abdelbaset Megrahi's application for interim liberation. One of the articles, by Marcello Mega, deals mainly with Mr Megrahi's medical condition and prognosis. The other article, headlined "Judgment will resonate round the world" by David Leask, reads in part:

'Few would relish the decision. Three of Scotland's most senior judges must decide whether to free on bail the man convicted of the biggest single act of mass murder in Scottish history.

'Their job is to decide whether the grounds for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's current appeal against conviction are so compelling that they outweigh the horrors of the Lockberie bombing.

'The law in the case is straightforward. An appellant seeking release on bail has to show that the grounds of his appeal would, if sustained, lead to his conviction being quashed.

'Professor Robert Black, a leading expert in the Lockerbie case, believes the Libyan has more than enough grounds.

'He has stressed the appeal stems from a report from the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which warned his conviction may have been a miscarriage of justice. But there are other, perhaps more compelling factors facing Lord Hamilton, Scotland's most senior judge, and two colleagues at Edinburgh's High Court who must decide later this week whether releasing Megrahi poses any danger to the public – or any risk of flight.

'Here Megrahi's supporters can be confident. The 56-year-old faces a painful death from cancer within 12 months. Is he fit to flee the jurisdiction of Scottish justice? No. Is he likely to kill if freed?

'As his conviction was for a politically motivated act of terror, a repeat attack hardly seems plausible, particularly in his physical state. (...)

'The Crown will have to decide whether to oppose bail, which it has in the past, arguing it should only be granted to convicted prisoners in 'exceptional' circumstances. A denial would leave Megrahi's lawyers with just once option: to put their application before Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill. It is not a decision he will relish either.'

The editorial is headlined "Megrahi must stay in prison" and contains the following:

'There are good reasons why consideration is being given to the release from prison of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. On Thursday, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing will ask the High Court to grant him bail pending next year's appeal against his conviction. Megrahi's defence believes he has a strong case, given serious doubts about key aspects of the evidence that convicted him. (...)

'But it would be wrong for ... the High Court ... to free the Libyan. However ill he is, Megrahi remains convicted of the worst crime ever committed in Scotland. A Scottish court – albeit sitting in the Netherlands – decided he ended 259 lives on flight Pan Am 103, and 11 on the ground in Lockerbie. This was brutal mass murder, and unless Megrahi is found innocent by the same judicial system, many Scots and the relatives of the American victims will continue to consider him guilty. It would be particularly insensitive to free him in the weeks before the 20th anniversary of the atrocity.

'Megrahi must stay in prison, where ways must be found to provide the best possible medical care. We hope his appeal comes quickly, and that he lives to see the outcome. Only that way will justice be served.'