Stage 3 of Criminal Cases (Punishment and Review) (Scotland) Bill

[The final stage of the Scottish Parliament Bill that allows publication of Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission reports in cases where an appeal has been abandoned is due to be completed today.  The SCCRC Statement of Reasons in the Megrahi case has, of course, already been published on the heraldscotland.com website. A report published late yesterday on the BBC News website reads in part:]

The bill also contains measures to officially permit publication of key information about the case of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.

The report in question, by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which contained details on Megrahi's grounds for appeal sent to the appeal court, has already been put into the public domain.

The commission's report had been withheld because Megrahi, who died in May, abandoned his second appeal days before he was sent home to Libya on compassionate grounds relating to his terminal cancer.

In March, the Sunday Herald newspaper published the 821-page document, following assurances from the Crown Office that commission members would not be prosecuted for publishing details.