[This is the headline over a report on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]
Former Scottish First Minister Henry McLeish has described comments by the FBI chief on the Lockerbie bomber's release as "totally out of order".
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed terminally ill Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds on Thursday.
FBI director Robert Mueller said the decision gave "comfort to terrorists".
Mr McLeish said it was an unfair slur on the Scots justice system. A former lord advocate said it was "appalling". (...)
However, Henry McLeish said Mr Mueller's intervention was "totally out of order".
"Let's as Scots, despite the adversity, be conscious that it is Scotland and our criminal justice system which holds its head high throughout the world," he told BBC Radio Scotland.
"It doesn't help if some ill-informed remarks are made by the director of the FBI towards that when it's, quite frankly, none of his business.
"It would be the equivalent of the Metropolitan Police chief writing to Barack Obama to complain about a decision that has been made.
"He has a view - fine - but that was a slur on the Scottish justice system that we didn't deserve as part of the wider debate."
He said there was a different culture in the United States which "did not see any scope for compassion" in its criminal justice system.
Lord Fraser of Carmyllie QC, the former chief prosecutor who launched the case against the Lockerbie bomber, also hit back at Mr Mueller's attack.
He told The Courier newspaper: "As a former lord advocate I'm quite appalled that the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, should have set his face so openly against Scotland." (...)
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman also dismissed the claims, saying: "I don't see how anyone can argue this has has given succour to terrorists." (...)
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in Scotland has voiced its support for Mr MacAskill's decision.
The Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, said: "I personally, and many others in the Catholic community, admired the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi on grounds of compassion which is, after all, one of the principles inscribed on the mace of the Scottish Parliament by which Scotland's government should operate.
"The showing of mercy in any situation is not a sign of weakness.
"Indeed in this situation, with the pressures and circumstances of the case, it seemed to me a sign of manifest strength.
"Despite contrary voices I believe it is a decision which will be a source of satisfaction for many Scots and one which will be respected in the international community."
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