[It was on this date in 2009 that news broke that Abdelbaset Megrahi had submitted an application for compassionate release. The report on the BBC News website reads as follows:]
The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has asked to be released from jail on compassionate grounds.
Scottish ministers will now consider the application from Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer last year.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will make the final decision.
If the application is successful, Megrahi's release from Greenock Prison would allow him to return to Libya without dropping his appeal.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman confirmed that ministers will now seek advice on the application.
Libya has already submitted a request to have Megrahi returned [under the Libya/UK prisoner transfer agreement].
A total of 270 people died when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie on 21 December 1988.
According to The Herald newspaper, Mr MacAskill is thought to have released three terminally ill patients on compassionate grounds last year.
Traditionally, only applications from those with three months to live are granted.
Megrahi is currently being held in Greenock prison where he is receiving treatment for advanced stage prostate cancer.
South of Scotland MSP Christine Grahame, who has met Megrahi twice in recent months, said Scottish Prison Service officials had already informed her there was nowhere within the prison estate properly suited to managing his condition.
Earlier this month, she said: "This makes the case for compassionate release absolutely imperative.
"That option is not subject to judicial review and is the only sensible compromise position in light of the fresh evidence and Mr Megrahi's deteriorating health.
"The weight of evidence which has emerged combined with the serious doubts raised over the original evidence that was led at the trial have left me in no doubt of Mr Megrahi's innocence."
She added that if Megrahi was allowed to die in prison but it was later established he was innocent, people would question why the Scottish justice system "failed so dramatically".
[RB: In The Herald’s report I am quoted as saying: "Compassionate release seems to achieve the humanitarian objective of allowing Megrahi to die in his homeland among his extended family, along with the public interest and criminal justice objectives of allowing a court to rule upon the validity of an appeal in the case of a conviction that has been increasingly called into question."]
DOSSIER LOCKERBIE, 2015 -- google translation, German/English:
ReplyDeleteThere are inspiring events which bring all the time new "sprouts":
1.) one of which is the attack on 'Pan Am 103"over Lockerbie with 270 dead.
2.) from the "Lockerbie case" revealed itself the "Lockerbie affair" (a proof of fraud with a MST-13 Timerfragment (PT-35) - through which Libya and Mr.Abdelbaset al Megrahi, intentionally, with fraud of proof of and by a faux Scottish court ruling wrongly with the "Lockerbie tragedy" were linked.)
3.) Comes now with the next "sprout", an attempted of insurance fraud, with
US$ 55 million, claims against the U.S. Government, on the day;? - because the sum to the relief of MEBO Ltd. & Edwin Bollier, was paid, by Mr. Seif el Islam, Gaddafi ('GIFCA') - already in February 2005, to Minmar (495) Limited in London (Representative believer of Pan American World Airways, Inc United States)...
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in German :
DOSSIER LOCKERBIE, 2015
Es gibt inspirierende Ereignisse welche immerzu neue "Sprossen" an den Tag bringen:
1.) Eines davon ist das Attentat auf 'PanAm 103' über Lockerbie mit 270 Toten.
2.) Aus dem "Lockerbie Fall" enthüllte sich die "Lockerbie Affäre" (ein Beweisbetrug mit einem MST-13 Timerfragment (PT-35) - durch welches Libyen und Mr.Abdelbaset al Megrahi, vorsätzlich, mit einem Beweisbetrug und durch ein imitiertes schottisches Gerichtsurteil, zu unrecht mit der "Lockerbie Tragödie" in Verbindung gebracht wurden.
3.) Kommt jetzt, mit der nächsten "Sprosse", ein versuchter Versicherungsbetrug über
US$ 55 Millionen, zum Schaden, gegen das U.S. Government, an den Tag; ? - weil die Summe zur Entlastung von MEBO Ltd. & Edwin Bollier, durch Mr. Seif el Islam, Gaddafi ('GIFCA') - bereits im Februar 2005, an Minmar (495) Limited, in London (Abtretungsgläuberin der Pan American World Airways, Inc USA) - bezahlt wurde...
by Edwin Bollier, MEBO Ltd. Switzerland. Webpage: www.lockerbie.ch