UK Government Did 'All It Could' To Facilitate Release Of Lockerbie Bomber

ROBERT BARR

LONDON — Britain's previous government did "all it could" to help Libya win the release of the only man convicted of the Pan Am bombing in Scotland in 1988, though it insisted the decision was made entirely by Scottish officials, Britain's senior civil servant said Monday.

However, Sir Gus O'Donnell, the head of the Cabinet Office, also said he found no evidence that the central government had put any pressure on Scottish authorities to grant the release.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the terrorist attack, was granted a compassionate release from a Scottish prison in August 2009 on the ground that he was suffering from prostate cancer and would die soon.

He is still alive.

The bombing of the U.S.-bound Pan Am jumbo jet killed 270 people, most of them Americans, and al-Megrahi's release has been criticized by members of the U.S. Congress.

Prime Minister David Cameron, leader of the British coalition government that took power in May, asked O'Donnell to conduct the review. Cameron has strongly criticized al-Megrahi's release in the past.

Cameron's office said he discussed the issue with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday at a security conference in Munich and that they had "strongly agreed" the prisoner release was a mistake.

"He was convicted of the biggest mass murder in British history, and in my view he should have died in jail," Cameron told the House of Commons.

O'Donnell said British policy regarding al-Megrahi developed after former Prime Minister Tony Blair negotiated a prisoner transfer agreement with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2007.
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Policy then developed that the government should "do all it could" to facilitate an appeal by the Libyans to the Scottish government for Megrahi's transfer to be released under the prisoner transfer agreement or on compassionate grounds, O'Donnell said.

"Nonetheless, once Mr. Megrahi had been diagnosed with terminal cancer in September 2008, (government) policy was based upon an assessment that U.K. interests would be damaged if Mr. Megrahi were to die in a U.K. jail," O'Donnell said.

"The development of this view was prompted, following Mr. Megrahi's diagnosis of terminal illness, by the extremely high priority attached to Mr. Megrahi's return by the Libyans, who had made clear that they would regard his death in Scottish custody as a death sentence and by actual and implicit threats made of severe ramifications for U.K. interests if Mr. Megrahi were to die in prison in Scotland."

Blair's successor, Gordon Brown, met Gadhafi in July 2009, a month before the release, and had said he could not interfere in the Scottish decision, O'Donnell said.

The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings last year on whether the British-based oil company BP had sought al-Megrahi's release to help get a $900 million exploration agreement with Libya moving. Former BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward refused to testify before the committee last year.

BP has acknowledged that it had urged the British government to sign a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, but stressed it didn't specify al-Megrahi's case. O'Donnell said he found no evidence that BP pressured the Scottish government to release al-Megrahi.

"It's clear to me, those who think there was some sort of conspiracy cooked up between BP, the British government and the Scots ... that's not right," Cameron said.

The bombing aboard the Pan Am 747 jumbo jet on Dec. 22, 1988 killed all 259 people aboard the aircraft and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie town, where much of the wreckage fell.

Al-Megrahi was convicted by a Scottish court in 2001 and sentenced to 27 years in jail.

O'Donnell said Blair's and Brown's governments had been "primarily motivated by a desire to build on previous success in normalizing relations with Libya and to safeguard the substantial gains made in recent years, and specifically to avoid harm to U.K. nationals, to British commercial interests and to cooperation on security issues."

"The desire to see such a result developed and intensified over time as Mr. Megrahi's health declined and the imminence of his death appeared greater," O'Donnell said.

___

AP writer David Stringer contributed to this report

US Senator says Lockerbie bomber should return to jail

A US senator has written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for the Lockerbie bomber to be returned to prison.

Democrat senator Charles Schumer said Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was released early on the assumption he only had three months to live.

Mr Schumer questioned the severity of Megrahi's prostate cancer given that the three months had now passed.

The Scottish government stood by its decision to release Megrahi.

Mr Schumer, who represents the State of New York in the US Senate, said there was "speculation" that the severity of Megrahi's condition had been exaggerated. The bottom line is Megrahi should have never been released in the first place.



In his letter to Mr Brown, he said the UK should seek the "immediate" return of Megrahi to jail.

He said: "The bottom line is Megrahi should have never been released in the first place but it would be even more outrageous if he were to be able to live a long and free life after his release.

"The victims of Pan Am Flight 103 didn't get a second chance at life and neither should Megrahi.

"Justice in this case was life in prison, no exceptions."

Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was freed from Greenock Prison on 20 August before being flown home to Tripoli, the Libyan capital.

He was serving a life sentence for the 1988 Pan Am jumbo jet bombing which claimed 270 lives and his early release was greeted with anger by American relatives of those killed, many of whom were students at Syracuse University in the State of New York.

'Reasonable estimate'

The decision to release him was taken by Scotland's Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, who said at the time: "There are no fixed time limits but life expectancy of less than three months may be considered an appropriate period."

In a statement issued in response to Mr Schumer's letter on Friday, a Scottish government spokesman said Mr MacAskill's decision was based on recommendations by the parole board and prison governor, and was supported by a medical report.

The clinical assessment by the Scottish Prison Service health director was that a three-month life expectancy was "a reasonable estimate for this patient".

The spokesman said: "Mr Megrahi has terminal prostate cancer and was sent back to Libya to die.

"As Mr MacAskill said when he announced his decision, he may die sooner or may live longer, given the nature of his terminal disease."

Megrahi: I'll persuade Scots I'm not guilty

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi: ‘I will do everything in my power to persuade the public of my innocence’.

Published Date: 19 September 2009
By Gerri Peev
SCOTLAND'S Lord Advocate and relatives of the Lockerbie bombing victims have condemned the "media campaign" by Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi to prove his innocence.
Megrahi, who was convicted of the atrocity which claimed 270 lives, released more than 300 page of evidence yesterday in a bid to clear his name.

He was freed on compassionate grounds after doctors gave him three months to live, but his decision to abandon his appeal fuelled controversy.

Yesterday, Megrahi insisted he still wanted to prove his innocence in the eyes of Scots.

"I will do everything in my power to persuade the public, in particular the Scottish public, of my innocence. I have returned to Tripoli with my unjust conviction still in place," he said.

"As a result of the abandonment of my appeal, I have been deprived of the opportunity to clear my name through the formal appeal process. I have vowed to continue my attempts to clear my name."

The release of the papers will be seen as an act of revenge on the Scottish legal system, and its top officer yesterday retaliated.

The Lord Advocate, Elish Angiolini, said she deplored his attempt to challenge his conviction by "selective publication of his view of the evidence in the media".

"The only appropriate forum for the determination of guilt or innocence is the criminal court," said Ms Angiolini.

"Mr Megrahi was convicted unanimously by three senior judges following trial and his conviction was upheld unanimously by five judges, in an appeal court presided over by the Lord Justice General, Scotland's most senior judge."

She said the Crown had been "ready, willing and able" to argue the case for his conviction in the appeal Megrahi had dropped.

"As he and his legal team have made clear, the decision to discontinue the appeal proceedings was taken voluntarily by Mr Megrahi himself," she said.

"He now seeks to retry his case in the media and criticise the evidence against him."

American relatives of the victims also condemned the move.

Rosemary Wolfe, president of Justice for Pan Am 103 group, said: "If he wanted to prove his innocence he should have kept his appeal going. It's almost as if he thinks that if he says it long enough, it will become true."

Scottish Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said:

"He remains, in the eyes of Scottish justice, the murderer of 270 people. The release of these files does not change that fact."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said it supported the conviction and had released as much relevant information as possible.

But lawyers for Megrahi, Taylor & Kelly, set out more than 300 pages of evidence on the website, megrahimystory.net, which they claim showed the judgment reached was unreasonable and based on insufficient evidence.

The papers were based on arguments presented to the appeal court between April and May this year, before the appeal was abandoned.

Lawyers argued there was a failure to pinpoint the date he was meant to have bought clothes from a Maltese shop that were later found in the suitcase containing the bomb.

The dossier also questions the evidence for the bomb being planted at Luqa airport in Malta, and argues there was no motive for Libya to carry out the attack.

Doubts are also cast on the way in which identification evidence was obtained from the Maltese shopkeeper.

More documents are expected to be issued in the weeks ahead.

IRA VICTIMS STUNNED BY REVELATION OF POLICE AID TO LIBYA

VICTIMS of IRA violence last night expressed disbelief at the revelation that a senior Northern Ireland police officer had been sent to Tripoli to train Libyan police.

Unionist politicians were also incensed.

William Frazer of victims' group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives said:

"Here we have the police out training the people who trained the IRA and supplied the weapons to murder their colleagues, it's just unbelievable."

With Libya facing demands for compensation for relatives of IRA victims, some members of the Northern Ireland Policing Board said they were stunned. But the board later said it had backed the three-week trip by a superintendent in January this year and that board and Stormont Assembly member Ian Paisley jnr (right) had approved it.

Mr Paisley was chairman of the board's human resources committee when the request came in last December.

A board spokesman said because it was not due to meet again until February this year, procedure was followed and the secondment to Libya approved by Mr Paisley and two other board members. It was then rubber-stamped by Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward.

Megrahi release: Obama hits out at Brown

Published Date: 11 September 2009
By Tom Peterkin
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama last night expressed his "disappointment" at the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber during a 40-minute phone call with Gordon Brown.
In their first direct discussions on the matter, the two leaders "exchanged views" on the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Brown made it clear the decision had been a matter for the Scottish Government.

Following their conversation, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "The president expressed his disappointment over the Scottish Executive's decision to release convicted Pan Am 103 bomber al-Megrahi back to Libya."

When Megrahi returned to a hero's welcome in Libya last month, Mr Obama described the decision by the Scottish justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill, acting in his quasi-judicial role, to grant the bomber compassionate release as a "mistake".

But last night was the first time that he has expressed his disapproval to the Prime Minister in person.

Although it was a Scottish decision to free Megrahi, Mr Brown has come under fire for failing to indicate whether or not he supported the move.

The controversy has also been fanned by suggestions that the man, convicted of killing the 270 victims of Pan Am flight 103 when it exploded over Lockerbie, was a pawn in trade negotiations between the UK and Libya.

Mr Obama and Mr Brown spoke by telephone to discuss preparations for a Group of 20 economic summit to be held in Pittsburgh later this month and also discussed the economic situation.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister admitted Lockerbie had been mentioned during the conversation.

The spokesman said: "It did come up, and the Prime Minister made it clear that it was a matter for the Scottish Government."

The spokesman declined to say whether Mr Obama or Mr Brown had raised the matter, but claimed that the call between the two men was "warm and substantive".

The release of Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal cancer, outraged the relatives of American victims of the atrocity, who are convinced that the former Libyan intelligence agent is guilty of the worst mass murder in British legal history.

Mr Obama's displeasure has led to speculation that Britain's handling of the case and its involvement in trade discussions with Libya could harm the "special relationship" between the UK and the United States.

Mr Brown's spokesman denied that was the case.

"The two leaders concluded that the special relationship was as strong as ever and that there continued to be good co-operation across the full global agenda," the No 10 spokesman said.

Earlier yesterday it emerged that the UK Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, will be questioned over the Megrahi's release by the Commons justice committee.

The cross-party group of MPs will question Mr Straw on the decision not to exclude Megrahi from a prisoner transfer agreement between the UK and Libya.

Last night the American relatives said they were "very pleased" that Mr Obama had made his feelings clear to Mr Brown and claimed that the special relationship was now under severe stress.

A backlash against the UK and Scotland has been seen across the US ever since Mr MacAskill took the decision to send Megrahi home.

The sight of Scottish saltires flying as Megrahi landed in Tripoli in front of cheering crowds was especially embarrassing to the UK and Scottish governments.

The Scottish Government has always insisted that the decision to release the bomber was the right one given that medical advice suggested Megrahi had just three months to live.

The American families have always said that his release went against an agreement struck between the US and Britain that said he should serve his entire life sentence in Scotland.

"I think the (US] administration's feeling is one of more than disappointment," said Frank Duggan, the Washington-based lawyer, who is president of Victims of Pan Am 103.

"I think the administration is really angry.

"People have been asking me 'what does this mean for the special relationship?' Well, I think it is in tatters."

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/Megrahi-release-Obama--.5638572.jp#4415509

SNP defeated over bomber release

Megrahi flew back to Libya after being freed from prison

Read Brian Taylor's blog
'No double dealing' over Megrahi


The Scottish Government has suffered a defeat in parliament over its handling of the Lockerbie case.

Opposition parties united in a vote to condemn the decision to free terminally-ill Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

The move fell short of a vote of no-confidence in the SNP government.

As the vote took place, a hospital official told the BBC Megrahi had undergone chemotherapy and was now in a cancer ward in Tripoli.

In a further development, a lawyer who represents the families of Lockerbie victims in the US is planning legal action to force the US government to publish details of its correspondence with London and Edinburgh in the run-up to Megrahi's release.

During a debate at the Scottish Parliament, a government motion which said Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to release the bomber was taken in accordance with the justice system was amended by a combined Labour, Conservative and the Liberal Democrat vote.
The plot thickens - deals were clearly being done
Bill Aitken
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman


MSPs voted by 73 to 50 with one abstention to pass amendments criticising the Scottish Government.

A Tory amendment said the possibility of releasing Megrahi to a location in Scotland was not adequately explored.

A Liberal Democrat amendment criticised Mr MacAskill for announcing his decision to free Megrahi at a news conference, rather than in parliament.

The Labour amendment accused Mr MacAskill of mishandling the process, and disagreed with the decision to return Megrahi to Libya on compassionate early release.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said after the vote: "The Scottish Parliament has made clear its opposition to both the decision to release Megrahi to Libya and the woeful handling of the decision and announcement."

Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives said: "Tonight's vote is a clear message to Alex Salmond that the SNP Government's decision to release Mr Megrahi back to Libya is not in the Parliament's name, nor is it in Scotland's name. Mr Salmond's boast that he stands up for Scotland is in tatters."

The debate came a day after the Scottish Government released a list of documents on the case, which revealed that Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell had told the Libyans the prime minister and foreign secretary did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in a Scottish prison.

Mr Rammell confirmed having made the remarks but denied having discussed this with Gordon Brown.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill again defended his decision


Speaking later in Birmingham, the prime minister insisted: "There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to [Libyan leader] Colonel Gaddafi."

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the disclosures highlighted Labour's "totally and absolutely ridiculous" position over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

"The argument is not that the foreign secretary and the prime minister did anything wrong by revealing through the foreign minister to the Libyan government that they did not want Mr Al Megrahi to die in a Scottish prison," he later told parliament.

"What's wrong is that, while they were doing it, Labour in Scotland - either knowing or not knowing about it - tabled a motion attacking the justice secretary."

'Fundamental errors'

During the debate, Kenny MacAskill again defended his decision to release the bomber and reject an application to return Megrahi to Libya under a prisoner transfer deal.

He said he was required to hold his controversial meeting with Megrahi in prison while the case was being considered, and again dismissed opposition claims that the minister had failed to seek sufficient medical advice on the condition of the Lockerbie bomber, who has prostate cancer.

But Scottish Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said the Scottish Government must be held to account for the decision to release Megrahi, which has split opinion at home and abroad.

"I believe we should make clear that there were fundamental errors in the management of this process and therefore the decision to release Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds to Libya is one we cannot agree with," said Mr Baker.

The Scottish Conservatives' Bill Aitken said freeing Megrahi was a "mistake of international proportions" while Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown said "considerable doubt" remained over whether Megrahi fulfilled the criteria for compassionate release.

Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence in Scotland for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie in December 1988.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8232734.stm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you, Scottish Parliament. All political parties get arrogant from time to time and think they do not have to answer to anyone but their own. No heads rolled so everyone lives to try again. That is democracy in action.
-Beth Maxwell Boyle

Lockerbie's dirty secret

The Guardian, Wednesday 31 March 2004 02.05 BST
Article history
As he basks in the success of his controversial visit to Libya, the prime minister has to grapple at once with an awkward letter. It was delivered on Monday by UK Families Flight 103 representing most of the British families bereaved by the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The letter starts by reminding Blair that the families supported his visit to Libya in the expectation that the talks with Colonel Muammar Gadafy would lead to more information about the bombing. Moreover, the letter says, their support for the visit was widely used by ministers to justify the visit to Libya. Yet the visit has not led to any more information about the bombing.

And recent letters to the secretary of the group, Pamela Dix - whose brother died at Lockerbie - from Baroness Symons, minister of state at the Foreign Office, and from the Crown Office in Edinburgh, have argued that any further questions to the Libyans about Lockerbie would not be helpful. In short, ministers took the credit of the families' support without asking a single question about Lockerbie to justify that support. In a sense of deep outrage, the families are asking the prime minister for a meeting to discuss Lockerbie as a matter of urgency.

More people died at Lockerbie than in Madrid, and you would have thought that the government, if only as proof of its horror at terrorism, would be keen to question its new friends in Tripoli about the bombing. Not so, apparently. So the only hard information the families have is that Abdul Basset al-Megrahi, a Libyan official, apparently working in intelligence, was convicted in January 2001 of bombing the airliner. How he accomplished this feat is still a mystery. The details of the crime did not emerge at the trial, which was held by Scottish judges sitting without a jury in Holland. It lasted 18 months and cost an estimated £50m.

Megrahi's co-accused was acquitted, so the prosecution's suggestion that the two men conspired to bomb the plane cannot be right. Indeed, the crucial evidence that the bomb was put on a feeder flight at Malta and was transferred twice, at Frankfurt and at Heathrow, was so thin it was derisory.

No one knows whether anyone else took part in this sophisticated crime of terror. One man has been convicted. The Libyan government has forked out many millions in compensation. And that, apparently, is the end of the matter. Many of the bereaved relatives, including Dix, are increasingly disturbed at the behaviour of ministers who talk business and politics to the Gadafy regime, but are not remotely interested in pressing anyone in it to tell the whole story about Lockerbie.

There is, in my opinion (not necessarily shared by the families), an explanation for all this, an explanation so shocking that no one in high places can contemplate it. It is that the Lockerbie bombing was carried out not by Libyans at all but by terrorists based in Syria and hired by Iran to avenge the shooting down in the summer of 1988 of an Iranian civil airliner by a US warship. This was the line followed by both British and US police and intelligence investigators after Lockerbie. Through favoured newspapers like the Sunday Times, the investigators named the suspects - some of whom had been found with home-made bombs similar to the one used at Lockerbie.

This line of inquiry persisted until April 1989, when a phone call from President Bush senior to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher warned her not to proceed with it. A year later, British and US armed forces prepared for an attack on Saddam Hussein's occupying forces in Kuwait. Their coalition desperately needed troops from an Arab country. These were supplied by Syria, which promptly dropped out of the frame of Lockerbie suspects. Libya, not Syria or Iran, mysteriously became the suspect country, and in 1991 the US drew up an indictment against two Libyan suspects. The indictment was based on the "evidence" of a Libyan "defector", handsomely paid by the CIA. His story was such a fantastic farrago of lies and fantasies that it was thrown out by the Scottish judges.

In Britain, meanwhile, Thatcher, John Major and Blair obstinately turned down the bereaved families' requests for a full public inquiry into the worst mass murder in British history.

It follows from this explanation that Megrahi is innocent of the Lockerbie bombing and his conviction is the last in the long line of British judges' miscarriages of criminal justice. This explanation is also a terrible indictment of the cynicism, hypocrisy and deceit of the British and US governments and their intelligence services. Which is probably why it has been so consistently and haughtily ignored.

comment@guardian.co.uk

Lockerbie bomber: MacAskill defends Megrahi medical advice

Kenny MacAskill today slammed opoposition parties for doubting Megrahi medical advice



Published Date: 31 August 2009
By DAVID GUNN
JUSTICE Secretary Kenny MacAskill today hit out at opposition parties who have raised questions over the medical advice he sought before releasing the Lockerbie bomber.
Mr MacAskill sparked international controversy when he freed Libyan Abdalbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, on compassionate grounds earlier this month.

The SNP minister was in Falkirk today for his first official engagement since the decision and also made it clear that trade deals with Libya had no bearing on his judgment.

Megrahi was released after medical advice obtained by Mr MacAskill indicated he had less than three months to live – but Labour have raised questions over this and the extent of the advice sought.

But the Justice Secretary said today: "The medical advice I got was from the director of health and social care from the Scottish Prison Service.

"He did not do this on a whim and fancy.

"The report he provided to me was based on information he got from a variety of people who treated Mr Megrahi before, during and after matters took a turn for the worse. I don't seek to challenge the report from the director.

"I do think it's a matter for regret that some opposition parties do seem to be seeking to undermine him.

"I accepted the report that was given to me, I accepted the information that was collated together and that seems to me the basis that every Justice Secretary has always made their decision on."

He added: "I think it's appropriate that opposition parties should maybe realise that people in public service do their job.

"I follow the guidance when they do their employment and we should support them."

The Cabinet Secretary said he was "not medically qualified" to comment on pictures which emerged yesterday of footage of Mr Megrahi in a hospital bed attached to a drip and wearing an oxygen mask.

Mr MacAskill was today visiting Falkirk fire station to see a new state-of-the-art communications system aimed at improving the safety of front-line firefighters through a priority call function which can request urgent police assistance should crews come under attack.

It comes after letters emerged at the weekend from his UK counterpart Jack Straw dating back two years which indicate the latter was unable to specifically exclude Megrahi from a Prisoner Transfer Agreement negotiated between the UK and Libya.

This came at a crucial time in negotiations about an oil exploration contract for BP in Libya. Six weeks later the deal was ratified, although Mr Straw yesterday denied commercial interests had any bearing on Megrahi's release.

Mr MacAskill said today: "I made it quite clear that my decision was based not on any political, economic or diplomatic considerations.

"I rejected the Prisoner Transfer Agreement which had been a matter of concern to the American families and American government. I thereafter considered in terms of due process in the laws of Scotland and the guidance given by the SPS an application for compassionate release."

The SNP minister reiterated that the Scottish Government had objected to the PTA when it was first agreed but found itself "overruled" by Westminster.

Megrahi was allowed to leave Greenock prison to go home to Libya to die having served just eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence.

The man who was convicted of murdering 270 people in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 returned to a hero's welcome. The scenes provoked international condemnation.

But Labour MSP Dr Richard Simpson, who specialised in prostate disease research, later reiterated his criticism of Mr MacAskill, claiming there was no medical consensus about the Libyan's prognosis.

Dr Simpson said: "The Justice Secretary chose to disregard the advice of four specialists and release Megrahi on the opinion of one doctor, who we know was not a specialist.

"At the very least, Kenny Macaskill should have sought a second opinion confirming the patient's prognosis from a specialist in palliative care.

"That he did not do so showed a disregard for due process and the significance of the decision."

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Lockerbie-bomber-MacAskill-defends-Megrahi.5603137.jp#4379037

Compassionate release: Scottish Parliament makes little impact

SCOTS LAW NEWS
24 August 2009 16:15

Scottish Parliamentary questions to Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in a session for which it had been specially recalled on 24 August 2009 failed to shake his basic position on the compassionate release of Abdelbaset Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber.

The MSPs' questions were basically rather repetitious: (1) what led to and what were the consequences of the meeting between Megrahi and MacAskill? (2) why was the compassionate release not to a place in Scotland? (3) would there be any leak inquiry over the early reports that Megrahi's release was imminent? (4) what did the Cabinet Secretary think about Megrahi's welcome in Libya?

The answers were actually mostly in Mr MacAskill's opening statement - itself basically a repetition of what he said when announcing the release on 20 August, resting on the planks of due process and Scottish values tempering justice with mercy even when the compassion shown did not appear to be reciprocated. On (2), the Cabinet Secretary pointed to police advice that release of Megrahi to a hospice would have required the attendance of 48 police officers to ensure security, and this and the probability of a media scrum in and around the hospice with concomitant effects on other patients led to his ruling it out as a possibility. Those who asked questions on this failed to suggest what practical alternatives there might have been. In general, the questions were not clever; and the MSPs failed to follow through on some of the points that emerged, preferring to read the questions they had so carefully prepared earlier rather than build on the answers Mr MacAskill had given when they were asked earlier by others.

The main blows landed on the Cabinet Secretary seemed to this observer to be these:

(1) the guidance on how to handle prisoner transfer agreements, while requiring the Minister to receive representations from the prisoner (whose consent to the transfer would not have been required), says that these representations will be in writing, so no actual meeting is required by those guidelines. Mr MacAskill's defence is that the meeting was requested by Megrahi and that the principles of natural justice were followed;

(2) he wasn't able to say that all existing documentation (including any notes taken at the meeting in Greenock prison) would be released, although he said that as much as possible would be; nor would he say that there would be any further publication of or inquiry into the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission report which led to Megrahi's ultimately aborted appeal;

(3) he could not say what would happen if Megrahi failed to comply with the condition of his release that he hold a monthly video conference with East Renfrewshire Council social work department;

(4) he did not say that there would be any leak inquiry. This is interesting, because Scots Law News has heard that the source of the original leak to the BBC was in London; but perhaps that is all part of the exciting speculation which has characterised so much of the media discussion in this case.

Mr MacAskill did say that he regretted the way in which Megrahi had been welcomed in Tripoli, which came about, it appears, even although both he and the Foreign and Commonweralth Office of the UK Government had apparently asked Libya to avoid such scenes in the event of release.

In the end, then, Mr MacAskill seemed to hold his ground; but the Holyrood show has not quite brought the story to a final conclusion.

http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/sln/blogentry.aspx?blogentryref=7877

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=8434632

US warned Scotland bomber could get hero's welcome

By DESMOND BUTLER and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers – 3 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder warned his Scottish counterpart in June that the man convicted of blowing U.S.-bound Pan Am Flight 103 out of the sky could get a hero's welcome if allowed to return to Libya, according to the head of a group representing the families of victims.

Holder's warning to Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill came nearly two months before the bomber, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, was released from a Scottish prison and greeted by a cheering crowd on his arrival in Libya last week.

The Scottish administration has faced unrelenting criticism from both the U.S. government and the families of American victims of the airline bombing since the decision to free the terminally ill al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. The Scots said he was dying of prostate cancer.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi plans to visit the United States next month when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly. The trip is part of a long effort to rehabilitate his image and thaw relations between the West and Libya, but public anger over the Lockerbie release may drown out such efforts.

Notes prepared ahead of Holder's June 26 conversation with MacAskill were provided to The Associated Press by Frank Duggan, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 Inc. Duggan says a Justice Department official read him notes that Holder used during the conversation.

Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said he would not comment on the private conversation between the two officials. It was not clear whether the notes were a complete summary of Holder's message to MacAskill.

Duggan also provided notes of a July 9 teleconference between MacAskill and some victims' relatives, an emotional exchange in which family members told stories of their loved ones and implored MacAskill not to return al-Megrahi to Libya.

The telephone conversation between the U.S. and Scottish officials dealt with Scotland's consideration of transferring al-Megrahi to Libya under a prisoner transfer treaty that Britain and Libya concluded this year. MacAskill rejected that possibility before he granted al-Megrahi's request for release on health grounds. The application for compassionate release came after MacAskill's conversations with Holder and the family members.

According to the notes, Holder said the United States opposed al-Megrahi's transfer. Among a number of reasons given, Holder warned that Libya might pardon him, if not give him a hero's welcome upon his return.

Such a transfer would be perceived as a vindication of al-Megrahi's innocence before the Scottish process had run its course, the notes say.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of the Libyan leader, was quoted Friday in Scotland's Herald newspaper as saying, "The U.S. knew a long time ago that Mr. Megrahi would probably be released and asked us to keep the reception low-key." He claimed that most of the families of the victims in Scotland "have written us to say they are pro the decision and more than 20 percent of the American families say they have no objection."

A spokeswoman for MacAskill, Fiona Wilson, said her office had notes on the call with Holder, but would not discuss the conversations with Holder or the family members until the parties consented to MacAskill's request to release the documents summarizing them, which he hopes will help explain his decision.

Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted in 2001 of taking part in the bombing of the Pan Am flight on Dec. 21, 1988, and sentenced to serve a minimum 27 years in prison. The airliner, which was carrying mostly American passengers to New York, was destroyed by a bomb in its cargo hold as it flew over Lockerbie. All 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground died.

Although Libya accepted formal responsibility for the bombing, many there see al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the bombing, as an innocent victim made a scapegoat by the West. Even as he left prison, al-Megrahi, protested his innocence.

In the July 9 conversation with family members, MacAskill said the Scottish authorities had asked the British government to include an exemption for the Lockerbie case when it negotiated the prisoner transfer agreement with Libya, according to notes of the teleconference MacAskill's office provided to family members this week. He said that because the exemption was not included, he was bound to consider the possibility of a transfer.

MacAskill told the family members that "he would be making his decision on judicial grounds alone and that economic and political matters would not be part of the process."

Since al-Megrahi's release, Scottish and British authorities defended themselves against accusations that they sought to return the Libyan in order to curry favor with Libyan authorities dangling business deals. Libyan officials have said that they repeatedly raised al-Megrahi's release when negotiating commercial deals and had sought the prisoner transfer agreement specifically with al-Megrahi in mind.

Gadhafi's son told the Herald that "Lockerbie is history. The next step is fruitful and productive business with Edinburgh and London. Libya is a promising, rich market and so let's talk about the future."

In the teleconference, family members told of the two decades they have suffered since the deaths of their loved ones.

Duggan says MacAskill's office provided families no indication that he was considering releasing al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds and did not respond to correspondence following the teleconference.

Some family members who joined the call with MacAskill said they had believed that MacAskill opposed returning al-Megrahi to Libya and was sympathetic to their position. They say they now feel betrayed.

In an e-mail sent to MacAskill on Wednesday, Michelle Lipkin, who lost her father, Frank Ciulla, on the flight, said she left the teleconference "feeling optimistic."

"I had faith that the right decision would come, and I am stunned by the unfathomable decision you have made," she wrote.

Brian Flynn, whose brother John was killed, said he also thought MacAskill shared the families' opposition to returning al-Megrahi.

"Now it seems that MacAskill was just being patronizing," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Ben McConville in Edinburgh, Scotland, contributed to this report.

http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Libya_And_Kenny_MacAskill

Three in five Scots oppose Megrahi's release

Alison Orr, who wrote an open letter to Hillary Clinton



Published Date: 29 August 2009
By David Maddox
Scottish Political Correspondent

SCOTS believe that their country's reputation has been badly damaged by the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber, a new poll has revealed.
The ICM poll of 1,005 people across Scotland also showed that a clear majority disagreed with the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, with 60 per cent opposed and just 32 per cent in favour.

Opponents of the SNP government last night said the poll added to growing evidence that the decision taken by SNP justice secretary Kenny MacAskill was not one which commanded support in the country.

And there appeared to be question marks over whether Mr MacAskill was giving his real reasons for Megrahi's compassionate release.

The poll, conducted for the BBC, revealed that 68 per cent did not think his decision was made purely on legal grounds, as Mr MacAskill has insisted.

This follows conjecture over whether trade agreements played a part or whether the minister had private doubts over Megrahi's guilt.

The survey also showed that the reputations of both the Scottish and UK governments have been dealt a blow domestically by the events of the last fortnight.

Even though he played no part in the decision, the reputation of Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suffered according to 68 per cent of those polled. He has consistently refused to say whether he believes it was correct to release Megrahi.

The Scottish Government fared even worse, with 76 per cent believing it was now held in lower esteem.

Even 53 per cent of those who agreed with Mr MacAskill's decision accepted that the Scottish Government's reputation had been damaged.

Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie claimed the poll showed that Alex Salmond's government had got it wrong.

She said: "The SNP, a party which boasts that it stands up for Scotland, has actually let Scotland down badly.

"But it is not just Alex Salmond who has been found wanting on the international stage, Gordon Brown has played his part too. What murky deals have been going on behind the scenes to free Mr Megrahi?"

The one crumb of comfort for the SNP was that only 32 per cent thought that Mr MacAskill should resign, compared to 60 per cent who believe he should continue in office.

But the greatest concern is over Scotland's reputation abroad, with 74 per cent believing it has been dealt a serious blow following the scenes of Saltires waving at the hero's reception for Megrahi in Tripoli.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said: "What is of serious concern is that three-quarters of those polled say it has damaged Scotland's reputation abroad. Alex Salmond now has to come forward and say how he intends to repair that damage.

"I believe the whole process was mishandled from start to finish and a clear majority say it was wrong for Mr MacAskill to visit Megrahi in prison. Kenny MacAskill must return to the Parliament to justify his mishandling of this affair."

This is the second poll taken in Scotland which has revealed that a majority of voters oppose the compassionate release.

A Yougov poll carried out earlier this week showed Scots split 51 per cent against and 43 per cent in favour.

It also provided evidence of a knock-on effect to SNP support while backing for independence fell to a long-time low of 28 per cent. This followed concerns about how an SNP led independent Scotland would conduct its foreign policy.

Mr Salmond's personal rating dropped by four points to 32 per cent, a new low since taking power in 2007.

But last night Mr MacAskill came out fighting.

A spokesman said: "The justice secretary made a brave and difficult decision, and the poll shows strong support for him, even among people who disagree with the decision.

"Regardless of their view, people recognise that Mr MacAskill upheld the due process of Scots law in difficult circumstances. It was inevitably controversial, but we believe will be seen as the right decision for the right reasons."

There were also problems for Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott last night. Former UK party leader Charles Kennedy has come out in support of the decision despite opposition to it from Mr Scott.

The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber said: "It is not surprising that some disagree very strongly, given the scale of the atrocity committed, but I think the decision was probably the right one, even if it was not necessarily taken in the right way."

He added: "This is not a party political matter, and it should not really be an international political matter either."

Former Liberal leader and Holyrood presiding officer Lord Steel has also supported Mr MacAskill and the YouGov poll showed a majority of Liberal Dem voters thought MacAskill had done the right thing.

There have been calls made in The Scotsman by church leaders for a free vote on the issue in Holyrood when it is debated next Wednesday.

Glasgow Roman Catholic Archbishop Mario Conti and Rev Ian Galloway, Convener of the Church of Scotland's church and society group, are among Mr MacAskill's highest profile supporters on the issue.

At least three Liberal Dem MSPs are understood to support Megrahi's release and Labour's Malcolm Chisholm also opposes his party's line against it.

How Scots answered poll

Was Kenny MacAskill's decision right or wrong? Right: 32% Wrong: 60% Don't know: 8%

Should MacAskill have visited Megrahi in Greenock prison? Yes: 36% No: 52% Don't know: 12%

Do you believe the decision was taken purely legal grounds as claimed by MacAskill? Yes: 20% No: 68% Don't know: 12%

Should MacAskill resign as justice secretary? Yes: 36% No: 56% Don't know: 8%

Has the Scottish Government's reputation been damaged? Yes: 76% No: 21% Don't know: 3%

Has Prime Minister Gordon Brown's reputation been damaged? Yes: 68% No: 29% Don't know: 3%

How has it affected Scotland's reputation? Damaged 74% No difference: 10% Enhanced: 11% Don't know: 5%

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/politics/Three-in-five-Scots-oppose.5600092.jp

Chafing After 40 Years, Qaddafi Baffles the West

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: August 25, 2009

CAIRO — Once the mad dog of the Middle East, as Ronald Reagan called him, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, has focused on shedding his outlaw status: He heads the African Union, attended a Group of 8 economic conference in Rome and is courted by Western powers hungry for Libyan oil.

But if the world thought the colonel had changed his views after 40 years in power, he proved otherwise with the hero’s welcome he gave Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing of 1988.

“He likes to rub it in to the West that he was vindicated, that he’s becoming an internationally recognized figure again,” said Dirk J. Vandewalle, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College.

It was signature Colonel Qaddafi, extracting a concession from Western powers, offering thanks, then appearing to mock them for caving in. On his visit to Paris in 2007, he lectured the French on human rights. In Rome this year, he pinned a photograph to his chest of the 1931 arrest by Italian troops of the Libyan guerrilla leader Omar al-Mokhtar, whom the Italians later hanged.

But this time, Colonel Qaddafi appears to have overreached (even if Mr. Megrahi’s homecoming, indeed his entire case, may not be as straightforward as many perceive).

Instead of enhancing Colonel Qaddafi’s standing, as he had hoped, Mr. Megrahi’s release has highlighted inherent conflicts in his re-engagement with the outside world, experts said. Colonel Qaddafi’s revolutionary ideology still clashes with Western expectations. He has failed to use his nation’s opening to make political and economic improvements at home. There may even be a degree of naïveté on the part of Colonel Qaddafi, who has expressed shock at the full-throated response from Washington and London.

Indeed, experts said, officials in Libya believed they had heeded requests to keep the celebrations relatively low-key. After all, Colonel Qaddafi did not himself greet Mr. Megrahi at the airport.

In that way, this case forces the West and Libya to face up to differences in perceptions that have hung over the courtship since reconciliation began.

The West sees the current situation as clear-cut: Libya honoring a convicted terrorist who helped to blow up a jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. But Libya experts said that it was far more nuanced, explaining in part why Libya acted as it did, and why it was so surprised by the reaction. There are several reasons, the experts said, chief among them that the government never accepted Mr. Megrahi’s guilt.

“When Megrahi was found guilty there was an immediate sense in Libya that a great miscarriage of justice had taken place,” said George Joffe, a lecturer at the Center of International Studies at Cambridge University. “And even on the day of the sentence, Qaddafi said that he would do everything to reverse it. Right from the beginning they did not accept the sentence.”

Still, this does not completely explain Colonel Qaddafi’s behavior.

“Libya is highly authoritarian, but he still has a domestic audience he needs to appeal to,” said Dana Moss, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “In the aftermath of giving up nukes and re-engaging the U.S. he wants to show he is no puppet of the West and that he made his decisions independently.”

In the days since Scottish officials released Mr. Megrahi, Colonel Qaddafi’s son Saif al Islam el-Qaddafi seemed to go out of his way to incite vitriol aimed at the very people he was thanking — officials in Scotland. Most damaging was his suggestion that British officials had agreed to release Mr. Megrahi as part of a business deal.

Saif al Islam el-Qaddafi, who accompanied Mr. Megrahi home from Scotland, is thought to be engaged in a succession contest with his brother Moatessem-Billah el-Qaddafi. Saif al Islam el-Qaddafi was widely seen as using the Megrahi case to try to burnish his credentials, especially among the old guard who do not trust him.

But Libyan officials say his comments were misconstrued, that Libya was simply using any leverage it had, including during trade talks, to free Mr. Megrahi.

Perhaps the central element, however, which cannot be overlooked, is Colonel Qaddafi’s personal ambition.

He gained the international status he craved when he became head of the African Union and he has used his position to promote his top goal — creation of a United States of Africa with one army, one passport, one currency and one leader. He hoped that bringing Mr. Megrahi home would elevate his status among African leaders.

From the beginning, it was almost inevitable that this case would end in hostility and recriminations. For those whose relatives died in the 1988 bombing, forcing Libya to pay millions to each family and putting Mr. Megrahi in prison for life amounted to a shred of justice.

But to Libya, that money was a business deal, a small price for a ticket to re-engage with the West and attract foreign investment. Libya did not admit guilt. It assumed responsibility for “the actions of its officials.” The resolution cost Libya about $2.7 billion. The next year Libya’s foreign investment reached $8 billion.

In the gap of perception over Mr. Megrahi’s homecoming, where the West expressed outrage, Colonel Qaddafi saw hypocrisy, experts said. When in 2007 Libya released five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death on charges they had infected children with the virus that causes AIDS, they were greeted by the Bulgarian president and prime minister, the French president’s wife and the foreign affairs commissioner of the European Union.

Colonel Qaddafi agreed to send them to Bulgaria to serve out prison terms, but they were immediately pardoned by the Bulgarian president.

“Why didn’t we hear these objections, on the exoneration of this condemned team?” Colonel Qaddafi asked last week. “Are we donkeys, but they are humans?”

His parallel was dismissed in the West, where health officials argued that his charges were fabricated. But Libyans believed that Mr. Megrahi was a political prisoner, and some experts assert that those sentiments are not without some justification.

“I remember talking to one of the judges from the panel that convicted him,” said Mr. Vandewalle, of Dartmouth. “He said there was enormous pressure put on the court to get a conviction.”

Next Tuesday, Libya will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Colonel Qaddafi to power. Mr. Megrahi may again be on display.

“The very concept of anti-imperialism is still at the heart of Qaddafi’s discourse,” Ms. Moss said. “His ideological prism has not changed. He has to show, or wants to show, that he is not backing down.”

Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting.

Too Little Too Late, Mr. Brown

Gordon Brown 'angry' and 'repulsed' by Lockerbie bomber's welcome in Libya

Aug 25 2009

GORDON BROWN said today he was "angry" and "repulsed" at the reception given to the freed Lockerbie bomber in Libya - but still declined to say if he agreed with the decision to release him.

Speaking for the first time on the subject, the Prime Minister insisted the British Government had "no role" in the decision to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi on compassionate grounds, but went on to say that his determination to fight terror remained "absolute".

He also dismissed suggestions that the decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary would undermine Britain's relationship with the US and its other allies against terrorism.

Asked whether he thought it was the right or wrong decision to release Megrahi, Mr Brown said his first thoughts had been with the families of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing.

Speaking in Downing Street, he went on: "I was both angry and I was repulsed by the reception that a convicted bomber guilty of a huge terrorist crime received on his return to Libya.

"When I met (Libyan leader) Colonel Gaddafi over the summer, I made it absolutely clear to him that we had no role in making the decision about Megrahi's future.

"Because it was a quasi-judicial matter, because it was a matter legislated for by the Scottish Parliament and not by us, it was amatter over which we could not interfere and had no control over the final outcome.

"I want to make it absolutely clear, however, that whatever the decision that was made on compassionate grounds by the Scottish Parliament, our resolve to fight terrorism is absolute, our determination to work with other countries to fight and to root out terrorism is total, and we want to work with countries - even countries like Libya, who have renounced nuclear weapons now and want to join the international community - we want to work with them in the fight against terrorism around the world."

Mr Brown's comments, his first in public since last week's release of Megrahi, came as he faced reporters in Number 10 following talks with Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/2009/08/25/gordon-brown-angry-and-repulsed-by-lockerbie-bomber-s-reception-in-libya-86908-21623464/

So why is Brown silent on release of Megrahi?

So why is Brown silent on release of Megrahi?

Published Date: 22 August 2009
By GERRI PEEV
PRIME Minister Gordon Brown came under intense pressure last night to end his silence over the Lockerbie bomber – amid claims Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi's release was linked to trade deals with the UK.
And Tory leader David Cameron wrote to Mr Brown demanding to know what conversations had gone on between Westminster, the Libyan authorities and the Scottish Government that paved the way for the decision to free Megrahi.

The Prime Minister was under the spotlight as US president Barack Obama described Megrahi's homecoming as "highly objectionable".

Last night, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, reportedly said the bomber's release had been linked to trade deals with Britain – a claim swiftly denied by the Foreign Office.

He also told a TV interviewer that Megrahi's release was a "victory" for all Libyans.

Mr Cameron said Britain's international reputation was at stake because of Megrahi's release, and while other governments had commented, "Britain's own Prime Minister has not".

Mr Brown's reluctance to make a statement was in sharp contrast to his quick reaction to other, less important events. Just hours after the death of reality TV star Jade Goody, the Prime Minister released a statement saying the whole country admired her determination. He also reacted quickly to the death of Michael Jackson and commented on the troubles of Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle.

Last night, the top story on the Downing Street website was a video message from Mr Brown to Muslims around the world for Ramadan. There was no mention of Lockerbie.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Brown had sent a letter to Tripoli warning Col Gaddafi not to mark the return of Megrahi with jubilant scenes – a plea that appeared to have been largely ignored after the man convicted of 270 murders after the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 received a hero's welcome. Mr Brown had asked that Col Gaddafi "act with sensitivity" over Megrahi's return.

In an interview published today, Megrahi said he was "very, very happy" to be free. He said: "This was my hope and wish – to be back with my family before I pass away … I always believed I would come back if justice prevailed."

Downing Street continued to maintain a silence over whether Mr Brown believed Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill had made the correct decision in releasing the man responsible for Britain's biggest terrorist atrocity. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said Mr Brown had made clear that it was the Scottish Government's decision to release him.

Mr Brown, who is still officially on holiday but is now in charge of running the country, appeared to have no time to make a statement on the impact to Britain of the release.

He did, however, break away from his vacation to make other official statements, including praising British troops in Afghanistan. He also attended a one-hour meeting with Rose Gentle, the Scottish anti-war campaigner who lost her son in the Iraq war.

Mr Cameron – who has said that the decision to release Megrahi was wrong – urged Mr Brown to make a statement, pointing out Britain's standing in the world was threatened by Mr MacAskill's decision to grant Megrahi compassionate release.

The Conservative leader wrote: "We are entitled to know what you and your ministers have said to the Libyan authorities on the matter and to the Scottish justice secretary. Above all, I believe that the public are entitled to know what you think of the decision to release Megrahi and whether you consider it was right or wrong.

"The fact that the decision was taken by the Scottish justice secretary does not preclude you, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from now expressing your opinion on a subject that is of great public concern and which affects Britain's international reputation and our relations with our allies."

Earlier, Foreign Secretary David Miliband also side-stepped questions about what the UK government felt about the decision.

Mr Miliband, who previously made sure that the background papers to the Lockerbie case would be kept secret for ever, slapping a public interest immunity certificate on the files, yesterday condemned the scenes greeting Megrahi on his return to Libya as "distressing".

"The sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing, above all for the 270 families who grieve every day for the loss of their loved ones," he said.

The Foreign Secretary also angrily dismissed suggestions that the UK government had wanted Megrahi to be released so that commercial relations with the oil-rich north African state could be improved.

"I reject that entirely," he said. "That is a slur both on myself and the government."

And he warned Libya that the eyes of the world were on the country. "I think it's very important that Libya knows – and certainly we have told them – that how the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days after the arrival of Mr Megrahi will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's re-entry into the civilised community of nations," he said.

First Minister Alex Salmond, who also condemned the scenes of jubilation, defended the Scottish Government's decision.

"We made a difficult and controversial decision for the right reasons," he said.

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray cited the "sickening" scenes in Tripoli and criticism in the Libyan press of the Scottish justice system.

He said that, as well as reaching a wrong decision, the justice secretary had announced it in a "badly judged" statement which showed naivety and a lack of understanding of the international repercussions.

The scenes in Tripoli are also threatening a planned visit to Libya by the Duke of York.

The duke's spokesman said the trip in early September had been "in its planning stages". He added: "We will continue to take advice from the Foreign Office as we do with all overseas royal visits."

Last night, in a final act of legal tidying up, the Crown Office formally dropped its appeal against the "leniency" of Megrahi's original sentence – a minimum term of 27 years.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/latestnews/So-why-is-Brown-silent.5578577.jp

Hero's welcome for Lockerbie bomber who slaughtered 270 as shabby political deal provokes U.S. outrage

By David Williams and Ian Drury
Last updated at 12:18 AM on 21st August 2009

This was the moment the Libyan convicted of the Lockerbie bombing flew home to a hero's welcome.

As thousands cheered, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi was escorted down the steps of his plane by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Earlier this month, Saif Gaddafi met Lord Mandelson in Corfu, raising suspicions that a deal was being made to free 57-year-old Megrahi.


Yesterday Megrahi, who is dying of cancer, was freed on compassionate grounds by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

The decision was bitterly condemned by relatives of many of the 270 victims of the bombing and branded a mistake by President Barack Obama.

Mr Obama said his government had told Libya there must be no celebration for Megrahi.

But thousands of people wore T-shirts bearing Megrahi's picture and waved Libyan and Scottish flags as he arrived at a military airbase in Tripoli.

Thousands of people waving Libyan and Scottish flags, and Megrahi posters converge on the airport in Tripoli to show their support

But in Britain and the U.S., TV coverage of Megrahi's flight brought new anguish to bereaved families.

There was angry contempt for Mr MacAskill, who spent 24 minutes delivering his decision.

He admitted Megrahi had shown no compassion to his victims, but added: 'That alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.


He said the Libyan has only months to live and 'now faces justice from a higher power ... he is going to die'.

Megrahi was sentenced to life in January 2001, with a minimum term of 27 years, for the bombing of PanAm flight 103 in December 1988. He served just a third of that - two weeks for every victim.


Suse Lowenstein, of Montauk, New York, whose 21-year-old son Alexander Lowenstein was killed, spoke for many in the U.S. when she said: 'It is so devastating and so difficult to accept that the one man we had responsible for the murders is going home to die in the arms of his family. It is just beyond comprehension.

'He has the luxury to be at home with his family, which our son did not have.'

Kara Weipz, 36, from New Jersey, who lost her student brother Rick, 20, said : 'I think it is a horrible decision. It's just utterly despicable.

'Why should he be returned to Libya? That's not what we were promised. We were always told he would serve out his full sentence in Scotland.'



Outrage: Barack Obama, pictured on radio yesterday, urged the Libyan government not to give Megrahi a hero's welcome. He's pictured right, covering his face in Glasgow before boarding his flight home, where he was greeted by thousands of cheering fans


More than relaxed: Megrahi would have been feeling ecstatic as he walked up the stairs to waiting jet at Glasgow Airport knowing that he would soon be in the arms of his family

Anger has been compounded by claims that the release was brokered by Tony Blair during a meeting with Gaddafi two years ago - just hours before BP unveiled a £500million oil contract.

The former Prime Minister has been accused of a 'blood money' deal to protect Britain's oil interests.

Relatives of some of the British victims, who believe Megrahi is innocent, had backed his release.

But they are upset that he dropped his second appeal against conviction - an appeal they believed would lead to a public inquiry and the truth finally emerging.



Fury: A police convoy carrying Megrahi leaves Greenock prison near Glasgow as people protest against his release



Bound for freedom: The private plane carrying the dying Megrahi takes off at Glasgow airport after Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill freed him on compassionate grounds

Last night Megrahi issued an extraordinary statement aimed directly at the families. He expressed sympathy for them but maintained his innocence.

He said: 'Many people, including the relatives of those who died in and over Lockerbie, are, I know, upset that my appeal has come to an end; that nothing more can be done about the circumstances surrounding the Lockerbie bombing.

'I share their frustration. I had most to gain and nothing to lose about the whole truth coming out - until my diagnosis of cancer.


Fate sealed: Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announces his decision to free Megrahi

'To those victims' relatives who can bear to hear me say this, they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss that they have suffered.'

It went on: 'The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction. I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will now never be lifted.'

In his explanation of the release, Mr MacAskill strongly condemned Gordon Brown for the government's 'highly regrettable' conduct over the trial and conviction of Megrahi accusing the Prime Minister of shrouding in secrecy crucial details surrounding the case case.

Just an hour after Mr MacAskill's announcement at lunchtime yesterday, Megrahi was driven through the gates of Greenock prison in a white prison van with an escort of police cars.

The Libyan Airbus - one of Colonel Gaddafi's personal planes - was waiting at Glasgow airport.

The prison van pulled up near the foot of the airliner's steps and the door slid open to provide the first glimpse of Megrahi since news of his pending release was leaked last week.

Wearing a white baseball cap and what appeared to be a white tracksuit, he emerged from the van looking stooped and frail.

But he needed only the help of a stick to walk the 29 steps into the plane and freedom, his release papers clutched in his hand.


Atrocity: Police carry a body away from the crash site of the Pan Am Flight 103 in Scotland in 1988. It killed 270, many of them Americans