[This is the headline over a report on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]
The SNP minister who released the Lockerbie bomber has claimed to have since won support for the decision from unnamed Labour MPs and MSPs.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed terminally-ill Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi in August, on compassionate grounds.
Addressing the SNP conference in Inverness, Mr MacAskill insisted the decision was the right one.
His arrival in the conference hall was greeted by a standing ovation.
Delegates also gave Mr MacAskill a second ovation at the end of his 17-minute speech.
Megrahi, the only person ever convicted over the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, had been serving his sentence in a Scottish jail before his release.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has refused to say whether he agreed with the decision because justice was devolved to Holyrood, although Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray opposed it. [RB: The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, stated in the House of Commons on Monday that the UK Government supported the decision to release Mr Megrahi. I wonder why the BBC did not think it necessary to point this out?]
Mr MacAskill did not name his supporters, but told the conference: "Many Labour MPs and MSPs have since told me that they agreed with my decision, but none of them have spoken out."
He said only the Labour MSP and former minister Malcolm Chisholm had shown the "courage of his convictions" by openly supporting the decision.
He went on: "Scotland's laws and Scottish values dictate that justice must be done but that mercy must be available.
"To act otherwise would be to discard the values by which we seek to live and debase the beliefs which we seek to uphold.
"I said in parliament that it was my decision and my decision alone. It was not based on political, economic or diplomatic grounds.
"It was the right way, for the right reasons and I believe it was the right decision."
[An article on the subject by Alan Cochrane on the website of The Daily Telegraph contains the following:]
Always a popular front bencher, Mr MacAskill was received with such rapture yesterday as much for having been in the international firing line for so long over this issue as for the decision itself.
Although there is no sign that the SNP activists disagreed with the decision to release the bomber, what they appear to be most proud of is that they reckon that Mr MacAskill’s actions showed Scotland was a grown-up country, capable of handling such complex issues.
But didn’t those who backed him so enthusiastically yesterday feel just the teeniest bit queasy at giving such a rousing reception to the minister responsible for freeing a mass murderer? How did it look to the relatives of the victims, for instance? Did any of those applauding their minister consider that?
The party’s strategists were prepared for Mr MacAskill to receive a warm welcome and are confident that it will do them no harm.
Megrahi’s release, although hugely controversial on the international arena, has not damaged the SNP cause at all with the Scottish voter. Indeed, recent opinion polls suggest that their lead over Labour is hardening, even in relation to Westminster elections.
Once upon a time BBC was the most reliable media source in the World. I actually learned English by listening to BBC, my favourite radio station for decades.
ReplyDeleteToday BBC is only a pale shadow of its own past.
A few minutes ago I scanned what BBC had to tell about the recent developments in the Lockerbie affair.
Nothing of any value.
Of course there are many futile speculations around the release of Mr. Megrahi.
But no word about the content of the documents that surfaced from the deapths of the SCCRC.
Are nowadays BBC journalists too stupid to read so many pages? Are they too lazy? Or are they not allowed to deal with the real hot potatos in this case?
"...BBC is only a pale shadow...."
ReplyDeleteI used that same phrase the other day Adam. It's sad to see how low they are stooping to keep Scotland in the UK.
Only yesterday (Friday) they did a piece on parking at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, which I know well.
Their claims that free parking was causing chaos and that the hospital now had to employ parking attendants was lies.
The only change is that it is now FREE for staff, patients and visitors alike. There were always short queues and attendants.
We must expect more of this disgusting anti SNP propaganda and be ready to combat it immediately it shows its ugly face.