Over the weekend the only Lockerbie-related stories in the UK press have related to US Senator Chuck Schumer's letter to Gordon Brown calling on the Prime Minister to demand Abdelbaset Megrahi's return from Tripoli to prison in Scotland because he has survived longer that three months since his release. What is vaguely surprising is the respectful tone of the accounts that I have seen. None of them takes Sen Schumer to task for (a) spouting hot air since there is no chance whatsoever that Britain would seek or Libya would consent to Megrahi's return and (b) addressing his self-publicising letter to the wrong branch of government -- the UK Prime Minister rather than the Scottish Government.
For a more sensible account of the senator's intervention than any to be found in the UK media, resort may be had to an article on the Maltese website di-ve. It reads in part:
"A US senator has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for the Lockerbie bomber to be returned to prison since Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi has outlived the 3-month forecast that justified his early release. (...)
"The Libyan served 8 years in prison before being granted compassionate release in August after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Compassionate release is an established feature of the Scottish judicial system when a prisoner is near death and 23 of the 30 for release on compassionate grounds have been approved in Scotland over the last decade.
"However, many believe Mr Al-Megrahi was the victim of a miscarriage of justice and his release came just days after he had dropped the appeal against his conviction, which had been granted by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.
"The decision to release him is the most controversial in the 10-year history of the Scottish parliament and has provoked bitter criticism from US relatives, and senior US political figures including, Hillary Clinton who argued that Mr Al-Megrahi should serve out his term in Scotland."
A perceptive Scottish commentary on the STV website by Bruce Fummey entitled "Why do Americans think they rule the world?" can be read here.
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