[This is the headline over a report published this afternoon on the website of The Herald. It reads in part:]
Alex Salmond has cast doubt on the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber, suggesting it was based on evidence that was “open to question”.
The former First Minister – who was in office when Abdelbaset al Megrahi was controversially freed from prison on compassionate grounds – said it was possible “for someone to be guilty, yet wrongly convicted”.
He made the comments after interviewing former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, who came under fire for releasing Megrahi in 2009, on his Russian TV chat show. (...)
Mr Salmond said: “As Kenny MacAskill has told us he made his decision to release Mr Megrahi according to the law of Scotland and on compassionate grounds.
“Here is my view: Is it possible for someone to be guilty, yet wrongly convicted? Yes it is.
“Kenny MacAskill was correct, the forensic evidence complied by the Scottish authorities and the FBI clearly identified Libyan involvement and Malta as the place where the bomb was planted.
“Mr Megrahi was a high ranking Libyan intelligence official on the scene at the time. This supports the charge that he, acting with others, was part of the Lockerbie conspiracy.
“However, his conviction was not just based on the strength of that evidence but on identification evidence which is to say the least open to question.
“Back in 2009 Kenny MacAskill was aware of this, as was I as Scotland’s First Minister. And we were aware of something else – the total cynicism of some of those who attacked the Scottish Government for our decision.
“Throughout this period the British government, of first Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown, were secretly acting to promote Mr Megrahi’s release. And not on the grounds of compassion or justice, but for trade, for big business and for oil. Such is State hypocrisy.”
[RB: The spuriousness of the argument that Megrahi, although perhaps wrongly convicted, was nevertheless involved in Lockerbie is demonstrated here and here.]
Alex Salmond has cast doubt on the conviction of the Lockerbie bomber, suggesting it was based on evidence that was “open to question”.
The former First Minister – who was in office when Abdelbaset al Megrahi was controversially freed from prison on compassionate grounds – said it was possible “for someone to be guilty, yet wrongly convicted”.
He made the comments after interviewing former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, who came under fire for releasing Megrahi in 2009, on his Russian TV chat show. (...)
Mr Salmond said: “As Kenny MacAskill has told us he made his decision to release Mr Megrahi according to the law of Scotland and on compassionate grounds.
“Here is my view: Is it possible for someone to be guilty, yet wrongly convicted? Yes it is.
“Kenny MacAskill was correct, the forensic evidence complied by the Scottish authorities and the FBI clearly identified Libyan involvement and Malta as the place where the bomb was planted.
“Mr Megrahi was a high ranking Libyan intelligence official on the scene at the time. This supports the charge that he, acting with others, was part of the Lockerbie conspiracy.
“However, his conviction was not just based on the strength of that evidence but on identification evidence which is to say the least open to question.
“Back in 2009 Kenny MacAskill was aware of this, as was I as Scotland’s First Minister. And we were aware of something else – the total cynicism of some of those who attacked the Scottish Government for our decision.
“Throughout this period the British government, of first Tony Blair and then Gordon Brown, were secretly acting to promote Mr Megrahi’s release. And not on the grounds of compassion or justice, but for trade, for big business and for oil. Such is State hypocrisy.”
[RB: The spuriousness of the argument that Megrahi, although perhaps wrongly convicted, was nevertheless involved in Lockerbie is demonstrated here and here.]