The Lockerbie Case: Lockerbie bomber’s release ‘delayed by pressure from Hillary Clinton’

Monday, 17 August 2009

Lockerbie bomber’s release ‘delayed by pressure from Hillary Clinton’

[This is the headline over an article in today's edition of The Times. It reads in part:]

The Scottish government appears to have buckled under pressure from the Obama Administration and abandoned its plans to release the Lockerbie bomber this week.

Senior sources said that there was “no chance” of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi being sent back to Libya on Wednesday as had been expected.

The plan to release the convicted terrorist, who has dropped his appeal against conviction, and return him to his native Libya, was thrown out after the intervention of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State.

It is understood that Alex Salmond, the First Minister, summoned Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, to a meeting on Friday amid fears that the decision for a release on compassionate grounds would lead to an international backlash. Al-Megrahi has advanced prostate cancer.

Mr MacAskill has now dropped a plan to allow al-Megrahi to leave Scotland in time for the start of Ramadan, around August 22, as Libya had wanted, amid concerns that he would receive a hero’s welcome.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said that a decision would be made on al-Megrahi’s application for compassionate release before the end of the month. He denied that the timetable had slipped as a result of US pressure. The spokesman added: “We have always been aware of the American viewpoint.”

[A slightly different version of the same article can be read here.]

1 comment:

Quincey Riddle17 August, 2009
I quote from Danton de Vouvray, signatory number 283 on the Justice for Megrahi Campaign petition:

"Justice must prevail beyond all other considerations. Beyond politics, convictions, religion, even compassion (and certainly expedience), regardless of one's sympathies, JUSTICE must be the banner that unites us. This is more than pity for a dying man, this is a demand for justice for an obviously innocent man. RELEASE MEGRAHI."

I could not put it better myself. We must, for so many reasons, prevent the lynch mob from dictating the terms of justice.

http://www.justiceformegrahi.com/sf/petition.html
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