Moby
08-13-2009, 10:14 AM
I can't understand the Scottish legal system as there's no way this guy should be released early.
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/52135,news,lockerbie-bomber-abdelbaset-ali-mohmed-al-megrahi-release-for-and-against
Speculation that the Libyan convicted of killing 270 people might be released has raised the issue: was al-Megrahi ever guilty at all?
By Jack BremerFIRST POSTED AUGUST 13, 2009There is increased speculation today that the 'Lockerbie bomber', Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, convicted of killing 270 people after planting a bomb on Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988, is about to be released from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds.
Megrahi is said to be in the final stages of prostrate cancer in Greenock Prison, where he is serving a life sentence. He is known to have been visited there last week by the Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill and, according to the BBC, the Parole Board for Scotland has been asked to give its opinion on a compassionate release.
Although the Scottish government continues to claim that no decision has been taken, Glenn Campbell, BBC's Scotland political correspondent, says his sources claim Megrahi could be reunited with his wife and five children in Libya before Ramadan starts next Friday.
All 243 passengers and 16 crew died when a bomb exploded on the jetliner bound for New York from Heathrow on December 21, 1988. Eleven more people were killed by debris falling on the Dumfriesshire village of Lockerbie, bringing the total death toll to 270.
Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, has always maintained his innocence and is still due another appeal. If he is released on compassionate grounds, that appeal can go ahead. If he is released as part of a prisoner exchange - an alternative proposed earlier this year by the Libyans - then the appeal would no longer be granted.
Pan Am was still one of America's two big national carriers in 1988, so the majority of the victims were American. Magrehi's release is expected to attract more outrage in America than in Scotland because, generally, Americans believe he is guilty while many British relatives of the dead accept his claim that he was wrongly convicted in January 2001 following a lengthy joint investigation by Scottish police and the FBI.
FOR AND AGAINST:
♦ Susan Cohen of New Jersey, whose 20-year-old daughter Theodora was one of 35 Syracuse University students who died in the bombing, said the idea that Megrahi might be released was vile. "It makes me sick," she said. "It just shows that the power of oil money counts for more than justice. There have been so many attempts to let him off. It has to do with money and power and giving Gaddafi [the Libyan leader] what he wants. My feelings, as a victim, apparently count for nothing."
♦ Kathleen Flynn, another New Jersey woman who lost a child in the bombing, said Megrahi's cancer was not a good enough reason to free him. "My husband had prostate cancer," she said. "He had it 10 years ago and he is still alive and well 10 years later."
♦ English doctor Jim Swire, who lost his 23-year-old daughter Flora in the bombing, believes Megrahi is innocent and that it would be to Scotland's credit if he were released. Swire points out that if Megrahi is sent home as part of the controversial prisoner exchange proposal, the appeal will have to be stopped and "the truth is less likely to surface".
♦ Martin Cadman, who lost his son Bill in the bombing, is one of the British relatives who wants to know why no others have been hunted down and brought to justice. "As far as I know the Scottish authorities and no-one else has done anything to try and find who these others were that were supposed to be implicated, so the whole thing is really very unsatisfactory".
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 13, 2009
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/52135,news,lockerbie-bomber-abdelbaset-ali-mohmed-al-megrahi-release-for-and-against
Speculation that the Libyan convicted of killing 270 people might be released has raised the issue: was al-Megrahi ever guilty at all?
By Jack BremerFIRST POSTED AUGUST 13, 2009There is increased speculation today that the 'Lockerbie bomber', Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, convicted of killing 270 people after planting a bomb on Pan Am flight 103 in December 1988, is about to be released from jail in Scotland on compassionate grounds.
Megrahi is said to be in the final stages of prostrate cancer in Greenock Prison, where he is serving a life sentence. He is known to have been visited there last week by the Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill and, according to the BBC, the Parole Board for Scotland has been asked to give its opinion on a compassionate release.
Although the Scottish government continues to claim that no decision has been taken, Glenn Campbell, BBC's Scotland political correspondent, says his sources claim Megrahi could be reunited with his wife and five children in Libya before Ramadan starts next Friday.
All 243 passengers and 16 crew died when a bomb exploded on the jetliner bound for New York from Heathrow on December 21, 1988. Eleven more people were killed by debris falling on the Dumfriesshire village of Lockerbie, bringing the total death toll to 270.
Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, has always maintained his innocence and is still due another appeal. If he is released on compassionate grounds, that appeal can go ahead. If he is released as part of a prisoner exchange - an alternative proposed earlier this year by the Libyans - then the appeal would no longer be granted.
Pan Am was still one of America's two big national carriers in 1988, so the majority of the victims were American. Magrehi's release is expected to attract more outrage in America than in Scotland because, generally, Americans believe he is guilty while many British relatives of the dead accept his claim that he was wrongly convicted in January 2001 following a lengthy joint investigation by Scottish police and the FBI.
FOR AND AGAINST:
♦ Susan Cohen of New Jersey, whose 20-year-old daughter Theodora was one of 35 Syracuse University students who died in the bombing, said the idea that Megrahi might be released was vile. "It makes me sick," she said. "It just shows that the power of oil money counts for more than justice. There have been so many attempts to let him off. It has to do with money and power and giving Gaddafi [the Libyan leader] what he wants. My feelings, as a victim, apparently count for nothing."
♦ Kathleen Flynn, another New Jersey woman who lost a child in the bombing, said Megrahi's cancer was not a good enough reason to free him. "My husband had prostate cancer," she said. "He had it 10 years ago and he is still alive and well 10 years later."
♦ English doctor Jim Swire, who lost his 23-year-old daughter Flora in the bombing, believes Megrahi is innocent and that it would be to Scotland's credit if he were released. Swire points out that if Megrahi is sent home as part of the controversial prisoner exchange proposal, the appeal will have to be stopped and "the truth is less likely to surface".
♦ Martin Cadman, who lost his son Bill in the bombing, is one of the British relatives who wants to know why no others have been hunted down and brought to justice. "As far as I know the Scottish authorities and no-one else has done anything to try and find who these others were that were supposed to be implicated, so the whole thing is really very unsatisfactory".
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 13, 2009