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The Lockerbie Bombing (Pan Am Flight 103; December 1988)

Quake42 said:
Why bother dropping it otherwise?
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Because it was his only hope of securing release under the prisoner exchange treaty. It was unrelated to the case for compassionate release.

Yes, Gadaffi's son has made the claim that the issue was raised repeatedly, but it has not been denied by Mandelson or any of the others who met with him, who have been careful instead to say that no deal was done.

I think it's fairly clear that what's happened here is a rather large helping of realpolitik. It is ridiculous to dress it up as some sort of shining beacon of Scottish caring and forgiveness.
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That is merely your opinion, to which you are of course entitled.
 
Quake42 said:
...but the fact remains that Megrahi dropped his appeal last week when the likelihood of compassionate release became imminent. It's ludicrous to think this was entirely coincidental - I'm quite sure Megrahi or his lawyers were informed that the compassionate release would be much easier if the appeal was dropped. Why bother dropping it otherwise?..
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And here lies what may be the 271st tragedy of the whole sorry mess. An appeal may have cast doubt on Megrahi's conviction - it may even have proved his innocence - but he's had to trade any chance of not going to his grave a mass-murderer in the eyes of the world for a few months of freedom in which to die. If he is an innocent man then I cannot imagine a more terrible choice to have to make.
 
There seems to be much 'smoke and mirrors' surrounding this. I was told by an officer who worked on the case that while the Crown has disproved several hundred of the arguments relative to Megrahi's appeal, there were a handful which, while it is true the Crown would have argued against, were likely to prove very damning to the Police investigation and which could have resulted in his name being cleared. That would be a disaster for the legal system in Scotland.

On the other hand there is the issue that the Scottish Government has for 2 years now, been trying to get an answer from the Westminster government re a possible prisoner transfer. The SNP say they were told it was purely a Scottish matter, despite the fact that the prisoner transfer protocol is actually a UK government reserved matter, so any action by the Scottish Government would be illegal under UK law.

The test of whether there is a Gordon Brown/Mandelson led trade agreement linked to this might be determined by how the Labour party in Scotland react. At the moment it is all condemnation and insults towards the SNP and Kenny McCaskill. However, if their own leaders have had a hand in this affair, the Scottish Labour party will not push for McCaskill and Salmond to go, because you can be sure they wont keep silent over any UK government pressure put on them.

As for the American reaction, it is nothing less than could be expected. However, they have quickly forgotten that the pardoning of mass murderers has been used by their government. Lieutenant Calley, who, along with his troops orchestrated the My Lai massacre in Vietnam was originally sentenced to life imprisonment, but his sentence was commuted to a few years house arrest by then President Nixon. If the Vietnamese government had objected, would the US government have changed its mind? Did Nixon consult the leadership of Vietnam, or the relatives of Calley and his soldiers victims before reducing his sentence. NO! However, what we see is a US reaction demanding sanctions against one of their oldest allies. We see the most vile and repugnant threats towards Kenny McCaskill and senior FBI officials accusing our government of incompetance. What they forget is that we are not lapdogs and we do have the authority plus the moral substance to make decisions based on our law, on our terms, and affecting our country.
 
I don't think you have to go as far back as My Lai, or as far away, to see a certain hypocrisy here.

I am one of those who doesn't doubt for one minute that the fates of Iran Air Flight 655 and Pan Am Flight 103 are directly connected. The people responsible for the shooting down of the former were awarded medals - the man accused of organising the latter is a dead man walking who has been denied any chance of clearing his name.

And what was the then US Vice President's response to those - and it's worth mentioning the fact that there were some even within the US military - who questioned the official line on how the USS Vincennes came to shoot down a civilian airliner?

I will never apologize for the United States of America, I don't care what the facts are.
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source

Maybe those in the Scottish and UK administrations who are taking a beating over this could do worse than take a lead from Bush senior.
 
Another twist, but one that frankly doesn't surprise me... :roll:

Lockerbie bomber Megrahi 'may live for many more months'
The Lockerbie bomber could live far longer than predicted by Scottish ministers when they decided to release him, a cancer expert has warned.
By Simon Johnson and Andrew Porter
Published: 11:25PM BST 25 Aug 2009

Dr Richard Simpson said that medical reports show there is “significant doubt” that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi will die within the next three months.

The Labour MSP accused Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, of failing to conduct sufficient checks before deciding to release the terminally-ill bomber last week.

This attack was echoed by the Tories, who said that the most recent medical consensus was Megrahi would live eight months, too long to be eligible for compassionate release.

The row broke out as Gordon Brown finally ended his silence on the controversy, but refused to say whether he agreed with Mr MacAskill's decision.

The Prime Minister stressed he had “no role” in the release and he was “angry and repulsed” at the hero's welcome that greeted Megrahi on his return to Libya.

A storm of international condemnation has met Mr MacAskill's ruling last week to release Megrahi, who is suffering from prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds.

Scottish Prison Service (SPS) guidelines suggest that inmates are only freed if they have less than three months to live.

However, Dr Simpson, who specialised in prostate disease research, said: “It is clear to me from the medical reports and the opinion of the specialists that Megrahi could live for many more months.

”Kenny MacAskill released him apparently on the advice of just one doctor whose status is not clear and who is not named.”

Dr Simpson, a former member of the British Association of Urological Surgeons' prostate cancer working group, said the minister should have sought a second opinion from a specialist in palliative care.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... onths.html
 
Yeah, people often outlive the prognosis significantly. Given that Megrahi was able to board an aircraft unaided and still feel well enough to smile and wave after a long flight at the other end, it's quite possible he will go on for six months or a year, which will pile even more embarrassment on the Scottish government.

He was seen by a number of oncologists, so we must assume that the disease is indeed terminal, but given the murkiness of the whole deal it doesn't seem completely impossible that he will pull and Ernest Saunders and make a miraculous recovery...
 
Megrahi backs Lockerbie inquiry

The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing has backed calls for a public inquiry into the atrocity.

Speaking to Scotland's The Herald newspaper from his home in the Libyan capital, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi said he was determined to clear his name.

He also said an inquiry would help families of the victims know the truth.

Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, was released from Greenock Prison in Scotland last week on compassionate grounds.

He returned to a hero's welcome in Libya after serving eight years of a minimum 27 years sentence for murdering 270 people in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over the town of Lockerbie, in southern Scotland. The scenes prompted international condemnation.

The Herald quoted Megrahi as saying he would help Dr Jim Swire, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora died in the disaster and who has frequently called for a full public inquiry, by handing over all the documents in his possession.

In his first interview since being released, Megrahi told The Herald: "I support the issue of a public inquiry if it can be agreed.

"In my view, it is unfair to the victim's families that this has not been heard. It would help them to know the truth. The truth never dies. If the UK guaranteed it, I would be very supportive."

But Megrahi said he believed the UK government would avoid a public inquiry as it would cost a lot of money and also "show how much the Americans have been involved".

He said he dropped his appeal in the Scottish courts because he knew he would not live to see the outcome and was desperate to see his family, and insisted there was no pressure from Libyan or Scottish authorities.

etc..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8228219.stm
 
The plot thickens (even more)...

Megrahi trade deal untrue - Straw

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said reports the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was released over an oil deal are "wholly untrue".

He denied a "back door deal" was done to transfer Megrahi because of UK trade talks with the Libyan government.

Letters leaked to a newspaper show UK ministers agreed to include him in a prisoner transfer deal in 2007 because of "overwhelming national interests".

Terminally ill Megrahi was recently released on compassionate grounds.

Pictures of Megrahi being treated in a Libyan hospital were shown on UK TV for the first time on Sunday.

A team from Channel 4 News were invited into his room, but he was reportedly too sick to answer any questions about claims his release was linked to a trade deal.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill released Megrahi on 20 August, eight years into his 27-year sentence for murdering 270 people in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said the convicted bomber was released from a Scottish jail with no London involvement.
He was not released under a prisoner transfer agreement.

The British government has always maintained the decision to release Megrahi rested with Scotland, but revelations in the Sunday Times will fuel suspicions about the motivations behind his release, BBC correspondent Norman Smith says.

Leaked ministerial letters reveal UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw's change of stance over Megrahi's inclusion in a prisoner transfer agreement (PTA).

According to the Sunday Times, Mr Straw wrote to his Scottish counterpart Kenny MacAskill on 19 December 2007, six weeks before an oil exploration contract for BP in Libya was ratified.

The letter said: "I had previously accepted the importance of the al-Megrahi issue to Scotland and said I would try to get an exclusion for him on the face of the agreement. I have not been able to secure an explicit exclusion.

"The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the UK, I have agreed that in this instance the [PTA] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual."

Responding to the report, Mr Straw said on Sunday that the "normalisation of relations with Libya" was in the UK's interests.

He said this was because they had uncovered "a huge nuclear weapons programme of the Libyans, which they had been conducting wholly in secret".

"As a result of painstaking, secret negotiations over months, an agreement was struck with them in December 2003 that they would allow the international atomic energy inspectors in to supervise the whole dismantling of their nuclear weapons programme.

"And yes, as part of that there would be gradual normalisation of relations with Libya, with the West as whole, not just with the United Kingdom.

Mr Straw said a prisoner transfer agreement was part of that agreement.

"But was there a deal? A covert, secret deal ever struck with the Libyans to release Megrahi in return for oil? No, there was not and there is no evidence whatsoever because it is untrue."

etc...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8229193.stm

Politicians are expert at denying certain things (which they're sure can't be disproved), and implying that this denial also refers to other matters which they haven't explicitly denied.

Personally, I'd be more bothered about Megrahi's release if I was convinced he was guilty in the first place.
 
A few points.

Lord Mandelson very particularly said that the suggestion that Mr Megrahi was freed as a result of a trade-deal was 'offensive'. Note: he did not say it was false.

Although the last article describes Mr Megrahi as 'too ill to answer questions' another report i have read (IIRC) stated that he had refused to answer questions as to whether a deal was done for his release (although confesedly he has more pressing matters playing on his mind). A slight difference.

On the other hand, you have to bear in mind the natural inclination when faced with denial from a government as unpopular and routinely dishonest as the current one is to assume they are deceiving the public in some way. Of course, that doesn't mean they certainly are - merely that it wouldn't be a shock if it transpired that they are obscuring the truth.

If you asked me do i believe this government would apply pressure for his release in return for trade, i would say yes, they certainly would.

If, however, you asked me whether they did -did the situation arise? - Well, who knows?
 
Lockerbie bomber: Jack Straw admits Government caved in to Libya
Jack Straw has admitted that the Government caved in to Libyan demands to include the Lockerbie bomber in a prisoner transfer deal.


By Simon Johnson, Scottish Political Editor
Published: 8:00AM BST 31 Aug 2009

Lockerbie bomber: Jack Straw 'allowed Megrahi free because of oil negotiations'

The release of Megrahi, who is suffering from prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds and his return to Libya provoked a storm of provoked a storm of international condemnation. Photo: Reuters
Lockerbie bomber: Jack Straw 'allowed Megrahi free because of oil negotiations'

Mr Straw's apparent change of stance came at a crucial time in negotiations about a multi-million pound oil exploration contract for BP in Libya that appeared to have stalled. Photo: GETTY

The Justice Secretary said that he originally wanted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi omitted from the agreement, but then relented, deciding the bomber should be eligible.

He said that the Libyans deserved “something” in return for giving up their nuclear weapons programme, but vehemently denied striking a “backdoor deal” over Megrahi.


Shortly after the reversal of Britain’s stance, a multi-billion pound oil exploration agreement between Libya and BP was rubber-stamped.

Mr Straw insisted that the disclosures were a “red herring” as Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice minister, made the final decision on Megrahi’s release.

Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, stressed that Libya’s prisoner transfer agreement (PTA) application had been rejected, and the terminally ill bomber was freed on compassionate grounds.

However, Opposition parties increased their demands for a full inquiry into suspicions that the PTA was a “terrorist-for-trade” deal.

In a leaked letter from 2007, Mr Straw argued that it was in Britain’s “overwhelming interests” that Magrahi be eligible for return to Libya. In a BBC interview on Sunday, the Justice Secretary said that he originally wanted a “carve-out” for Megrahi in the PTA.

“The Libyans resisted this on the grounds that it was wholly unnecessary,” he said. “Yes, there were of course wider issues of relations with Libya. I gave instructions we should agree a PTA in standard form.”

Mr Straw said Britain forced Libya to give up its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, and “obviously, they had to have something for that”. “But the suggestion that at any stage there was some kind of backdoor deal done over Mr Megrahi’s transfer because of trade is simply untrue,” he said.

“All this, however, is academic as Mr Megrahi was not released under the PTA treaty but quite separately by the Scottish Executive on compassionate grounds.”

The son of the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has claimed that Libya used trade as a bargaining chip for the bomber’s return during the PTA negotiations.

In a letter to Mr MacAskill, written in December 2007, Mr Straw said: “The wider negotiations with the Libyans are reaching a critical stage and, in view of the overwhelming interests for the United Kingdom, I have agreed that in this instance the [PTA] should be in the standard form and not mention any individual.” Six weeks after the PTA was agreed, Libya ratified a £15?billion deal with BP.

Edward Davey, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: “Labour ministers will not now escape the suspicion of a terrorist-for-trade deal unless they agree to the transparency of a full inquiry.”

David Lidington, a Tory foreign affairs spokesman, said: “We need a select committee inquiry so ministers and officials can be questioned about exactly what was said and done over relations with Libya.” Frank Duggan, of the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group, said: “If there was a direct connection with trade, particularly oil, then the connection is with Britain not with Scotland, and I think the Brits will have something to answer for.”
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... Libya.html

or perhaps:

Jack Straw denies allegations he gave green light to release Megrahi

* Michael White and Severin Carrell
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 30 August 2009 23.20 BST


The justice secretary, Jack Straw, today denied fresh allegations that he gave the Scottish government the green light to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, in the "overwhelming interests" of wider trade and oil negotiations with the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

Alex Salmond's Scottish National party cabinet had the power to free Megrahi and could have refused to do so, said Straw, adding that "Libya could have done nothing about it" and Whitehall would not have interfered. He made his comments as hostility in Scotland over Megrahi's release threatened to damage the SNP strategy for an independence referendum.

After publication of leaked letters purporting to show that Straw had reversed an earlier decision to exclude the Libyan agent – convicted after a trial in the Netherlands in 2001 – from the proposed 2007 UK-Libya prisoner transfer agreement (PTA), he admitted the issue had become a stumbling block. Libya had resisted that exclusion, and he had changed tack for that reason.

"In a negotiation you do not get everything you seek. What you have to do is protect your vital concerns," he said. Most PTAs between countries did not "carve out" particular names from the agreement. In any case, Megrahi had not been released under the 2007 agreement, but under his Scottish counterpart, Kenny MacAskill's autonomous power to show compassion to a dying man, he said.

With MacAskill facing censure after a debate on his decision in Holyrood on Wednesday, the case is acquiring growing significance in Scottish internal politics. Despite voter hostility in Scotland and outrage in the US, Salmond plans to publish his referendum bill on Thursday.

Today Straw was forced back into the debate after the Sunday Times claimed Megrahi had been "set free for oil" – a reference to BP's £500m exploratory agreement with the Libyan regime shortly after the PTA. Echoing Lord Mandelson's complaint that the charge was implausible and offensive, Straw called it an "absurd confection". What is not in dispute is that London had been keen to normalise relations with Tripoli after Gaddafi's renunciation of nuclear ambitions in 2003 and that Salmond had opposed including Megrahi in the 2007 PTA.

Labour officials in Edinburgh, from where cross-border correspondence appears to have been leaked, poured scorn on the idea of any deal over Megrahi's release.

"How could Tony Blair or Gordon Brown offer a deal to Gaddafi which would depend on getting Alex Salmond to do something?" an official said.

Scottish Labour MP Russell Brown today dismissed the leaks as "a complete red herring." But calls for an inquiry were repeated by the former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell. In Scotland, MacAskill, a former defence lawyer, was accused of ignoring guidelines and the existence of an outstanding legal appeal by the Crown Office's prosecution team, which sought a longer sentence than Megrahi's 27 years.

That alone would have prevented the minister using the PTA to free Megrahi, even though the prisoner withdrew his appeal against conviction shortly before MacAskill's decision was announced without consulting the Crown Office.

In his appearances on TV todayScotland's first minister stressed the compassionate aspect of MacAskill's decision. Salmond said it was "in the best traditions and part of the rules of the Scottish legal system", adding: "More is achieved in this world through acts of mercy than acts of retribution." He said MacAskill's rejection of the PTA was wise, and said most countries had welcomed it.

An ICM poll at the weekend found only 32% of Scots favoured the release, with 74% fearing it had damaged Scotland's reputation. Like other UK ministers, Straw declined to express a view either way. But public anger may not easily recede if, as also reported, Megrahi lives to write his memoirs – justifying his insistence that he is innocent – or recovers from the prostate cancer that the Scottish prison service said would soon kill him.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009 ... kerbie-oil
 
Iut of interest, has anyone seen any confirmation as to whether any other terminally ill prisoners in Scotland have been refused compassionate release?
 
Putting the issue of whether he is guilty or innocent to one side, if someone wants to spend the last days of their life with family and friends they should think of that before participating in the mass murder of over 200 people or even the sole murder of one person.

The victims of murderers were brutally and cruelly denied the chance to be with their loved ones so to suggest that a killer be excused from paying for his crime on compassionate grounds is completely abhorrent.

The fact that this Government has clearly pulled this off for financial and business gain is also unpalatable, but, sadly, no surprise.
 
McAvennie_ said:
The victims of murderers were brutally and cruelly denied the chance to be with their loved ones so to suggest that a killer be excused from paying for his crime on compassionate grounds is completely abhorrent.
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That depends on whether you want to place yourself, morally, at the same level as murderers or somewhere above them.
 
Dr_Baltar said:
McAvennie_ said:
The victims of murderers were brutally and cruelly denied the chance to be with their loved ones so to suggest that a killer be excused from paying for his crime on compassionate grounds is completely abhorrent.
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That depends on whether you want to place yourself, morally, at the same level as murderers or somewhere above them.
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Well, personally, I would like to think I am morally above a murderer.

The vast majority of people know that murdering someone is wrong. The vast majority of us manage to go through life without deciding to murder someone.

If a small minority cannot grasp the fact that it is wrong, or simply do not care that the act is wholly inappropriate then I have no problem seeing them locked away for the rest of their lives and forfeiting the rights afforded to the rest of us who manage to refrain from commiting such acts of evil.
 
But its also a question of whether you believe that he may not have been the bomber. i think a lot of evidence points to him being innocent of that atrocity.

i would rather see the real mass murderers dealt with. Much more likely that they are in Iran and one likely suspect, Ahmad Vahidi has become Irans new defence minister. Interpol has distributed Argentina's warrant for Mr Vahidi's arrest over the attack at the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA) 15 years ago, which killed 85 people.
 
ramonmercado said:
But its also a question of whether you believe that he may not have been the bomber. i think a lot of evidence points to him being innocent of that atrocity.
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Of course, you're right, and if Megrahi had been released because the Scottish Justice Secretary thought that the original conviction was unsafe, then that would be a different matter entirely. At the other end of the guilt scale, as it were, if Megrahi is deemed to have been responsible for the crime, then no amount of compassion for his illness should lead to his release, IMO.

The trouble is, London and Edinburgh have contrived to entirely fudge the issue, with the result that almost no-one is happy with the outcome, whether they think Megrahi was innocent or guilty. There's no talk of another trial, after all - all we're getting is terrible whiny accusations of dirty dealing with regard to who said he should be released. It's pathetic.

As far as the fallout goes, not surprisingly, given the nationality of most of the victims, the loudest voices of protest have come from the US. There, the issue of guilt has been pretty much ignored. I can hardly blame them for that - after all, the Americans allowed to let Megrahi be tried in a Scottish court, and presumably trusted that, once convicted, "life" would mean life.
 
But its also a question of whether you believe that he may not have been the bomber. i think a lot of evidence points to him being innocent of that atrocity.
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I don't think that the question of the conviction's safety is relevant in respect of compassionate release. I agree with Peripart on this one.

In view of his failing health, a better solution would have been to release Megrahi on bail pending his appeal. He could have been bailed to a private home or hospital, the cost of which (and its security) being charged to Libya.
 
Quake42 said:
But its also a question of whether you believe that he may not have been the bomber. i think a lot of evidence points to him being innocent of that atrocity.
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I don't think that the question of the conviction's safety is relevant in respect of compassionate release. I agree with Peripart on this one.

In view of his failing health, a better solution would have been to release Megrahi on bail pending his appeal. He could have been bailed to a private home or hospital, the cost of which (and its security) being charged to Libya.
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Good points.

Or he could have been sent back to LIbya under the prisoner transfer scheme. The Libyans could then have transferred him to a hospital with a separate residence in its grounds.
 
So with Jack Straw admitting that oil deals played "a very, big part" in Megrahi's release days after Brown denied that any deal had been made does this effectively expose our 'leader' as a liar?

With all the other shame and scandal we have seen in the last few months also still on the public's minds I find it unbelievable that we still have to endure this man. With just 9 months or so until an election will the forthcoming Labour conference be used to put him out of his misery?

I would say how can we trust a leader who has been exposed as a liar, what else is he lying about? But I think the news that politicians lie is about as shocking as discovering that England footballers cheat to win penalties and Jordan likes publicity.
 
So with Jack Straw admitting that oil deals played "a very, big part" in Megrahi's release days after Brown denied that any deal had been made does this effectively expose our 'leader' as a liar?
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What Straw has admitted is that a prisoner transfer agreement, which would include Megrahi, was discussed with Libya and that this was part of normalising trade relations etc.

In the end Megrahi was not released under the terms of the prisoner transfer deal, but instead on discretionary compassionate grounds.

Don't get me wrong, I think the whole thing stinks to high heaven, but Straw has made no admission that Megrahi was released becase of oil deals, and the Telegraph is being rather disingenuous by suggesting that he has.
 
I don't think the Americans were nearly as "surprised" by Megrahi's release as they made out to be. Look who visited Lybia just a few days before:

McCain says Libya may get US goods

Associated Press / August 15, 2009

TRIPOLI, Libya - A delegation of US senators led by John McCain met with Libya’s leader yesterday to discuss the possible delivery of nonlethal defense equipment. The visit and Washington’s offer of military equipment was another sign of the improving ties between the former longtime adversaries.

“We discussed the possibility of moving ahead with the provision of nonlethal defense equipment to the government of Libya,’’ McCain said during a press conference. He gave no details on the kind of military equipment Washington is offering.

The American delegation also included Senators Joseph I. Lieberman, Susan M. Collins, and Lindsey O. Graham.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/nd23p5
 
Quake42 said:
...Don't get me wrong, I think the whole thing stinks to high heaven, but Straw has made no admission that Megrahi was released becase of oil deals, and the Telegraph is being rather disingenuous by suggesting that he has.
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I'd be really surprised if the Megrahi issue hasn't been raised in many, if not a majority of, offical meetings between representatives of the UK and Libyan administrations over the last few years. What the press appear to be doing is implying a conspiracy in every insidence of a normal diplomatic process. There may have been a conspiracy, but the fact that Megrahi's name get's mentioned occasionally is not automatic proof of one.
 
Quake42 said:
Iut of interest, has anyone seen any confirmation as to whether any other terminally ill prisoners in Scotland have been refused compassionate release?
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Sorry, can't give you a precise reference, but a few of the Scottish papers have brought this up in the last few weeks and pointed out that compassionate release is regularly refused.

Compassionate release is dependant on many factors, one being proximity of a terminally ill prisoner to his family. Thus, if you're a lifer in Barlinnie and your family live in Glasgow, the authorities may not deem proximity a factor in the list of considerations which are examined when deciding on whether compassionate release is appropriate.

This factor has been largely, if not wholly, ignored in the press coverage of the Megrahi case.
 
Spookdaddy said:
Quake42 said:
Iut of interest, has anyone seen any confirmation as to whether any other terminally ill prisoners in Scotland have been refused compassionate release?
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Sorry, can't give you a precise reference, but a few of the Scottish papers have brought this up in the last few weeks and pointed out that compassionate release is regularly refused.

Compassionate release is dependant on many factors, one being proximity of a terminally ill prisoner to his family. Thus, if you're a lifer in Barlinnie and your family live in Glasgow, the authorities may not deem proximity a factor in the list of considerations which are examined when deciding on whether compassionate release is appropriate.

This factor has been largely, if not wholly, ignored in the press coverage of the Megrahi case.
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From what I can tell, there certainly hasn't been a refusal since at least 2000. I haven't been able to get any information further back than that.
 
Dr_Baltar said:
From what I can tell, there certainly hasn't been a refusal since at least 2000. I haven't been able to get any information further back than that.
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Information on numbers seems to be scant and contradictory. As I said, elements of the Scottish press seemed to be implying that refusal was not uncommon (which of course implies that Meghari was being given special consideration and, by extension, that 'something' was going on). A quick Google flags up some sites that claim applications for compassionate release are never refused (which I can't believe). While articles like this one in The Guardian seem to imply that successful applications are rare.

A case of too much information and not enough facts?
 
Two more opinions.

Lockerbie: Megrahi Was Framed
By John Pilger
http://www.countercurrents.org/pilger060909.htm

The governments in England and Scotland in effect blackmailed Megrahi into dropping his appeal as a condition of his immediate release. Of course there were oil and arms deals under way with Libya; but had Megrahi proceeded with his appeal, some 600 pages of new and deliberately suppressed evidence would have set the seal on his innocence and given us more than a glimpse of how and why he was stitched up for the benefit of "strategic interests."
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UN Judicial Observer Found Lockerbie Trial A Miscarriage of Justice
By Dr. Hans Koechler
http://www.countercurrents.org/koechler060909.htm

Statement by Dr. Hans Koechler, international observer of the International Progress Organization, nominated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the Lockerbie trial in the Netherlands (2000-2002), on the agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom and the Libyan Jamahiriya on the remaining issues relating to the fulfilment of all Security Council resolutions resulting from the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie
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Re the refusal/acceptance of requests for compassionate release.

I seem to recall seeing a figure a couple of weeks back in which about three quarters were accepted but I've not been able to track the number down since. It does seem unusual to me that the figures haven't been made more widely known. Perhaps there's some problem with the way in which they're collated.
 
Quake42 wrote:
Iut of interest, has anyone seen any confirmation as to whether any other terminally ill prisoners in Scotland have been refused compassionate release?
Click to expand...
Jailed killer being freed to die

A convicted killer serving a life sentence is being released from Greenock prison on compassionate grounds, BBC Scotland understands.

It comes weeks after the Lockerbie bomber was freed from the same jail.

The 36-year-old prisoner has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, as was Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.

However, it is understood the inmate will not return home to die with his family but will remain in hospital or hospice care for the rest of his life.

The man is the 28th prisoner to be granted release from Scottish custody on compassionate grounds since 2001.

He was serving a life sentence in Greenock prison and successfully applied to Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill for his freedom.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/gla ... 261950.stm
 
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