Did the Scottish Justice Minister really order Megrahi release?

What really happened. Did the Scottish Government make the decision to release Megrahi, did Gadaffi order the bombing?

It appears that Gordon Brown and the Labour Government facilitated every effort to send Megrahi back to his homeland. Was there communication between SNP and the then Labour government in regards to the release prior to the decision. At the time, Labour appeared quiet, statements at the time appeared to show that kenneth MacAskill and the Scottish Government alone made the Judical decision to release Megrahi back home. Gordon Brown said little, David Cameron is saying clearly that "Labour government at the time would do "doing all it could" to facilitate Libya in its appeal to release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi".

Now that labour isnt in the limelight, Gordon Brown has edged back into the shadows of life as a layman and questions are now being asked. With David Cameron saying Labour wanted to facilitate the move (Assist in the move) and the former Libyan foreign secretary Mustafa Abdel-Jalil stating that he has evidence that Colonel Gaddafi directly ordered the attack, what will come of this.

If Britain did want to "Cut deals" as has been suggested by various parties in the UK and USA, its surely unlikely a positive outcome of these "Deals" willl ever happen, for the country is in turmoil. Gadaffi is on a crazed mission, stating on TV that he will kill citizens in his country if he has to and that he wont leave his position.

Questions:

Was there dialect between the Scottish Government and the UK government prior to the decision to release Megrahi, assuming the (Labour governments plan to) "facilitating the transfer" is correct, I could only assume there was dialect between Downing Street and Holyrood to allow this view to be made to MacAskill/SNP.

What was the context of the dialect, was the dialect direct "We will support you, and advise you to make the decision to allow Megrahi back to Libya" or was the context more of a general one "We will stand by your decision, whatever that may be".

Providing the evidence by Mustafa Abdel-Jalil is plausible, and that it does exist and will be handed over, would the same decision now be made, to move Megrahi back to Libya to be free to live out the resit of his life with advanced terminal cancer, the evidence of Mustafa may or may not exist, it may be solid or weak.

If MacAskill did not make the decision, and it was in fact made by Downing Street, who urged MacAskill to move Megrahi back to Libya, will the Scottish Government come forward with the real facts. If the Scottish government was to admit that Gordon Brown and his cabinet in Downing Street made the decision on behalf of the Scottish Government, it may let the Scottish Government off the hook a little, that would leave MacAskill as basically "The messenger". It would surely now be safe for MacAskill to speak about what really happened, now that Gordon is home and Labour are not leading the UK.

Now that Libya is in turmoil, and that the former foreign secretary of Libya is saying that he has evidence of Colonel Gadaffi ordering Megrahi to blow up Pan Am flight  103 over Lockerbie, more questions are likely to be asked, the answers would be better coming "from the horses mouth" (Directly from the Scottish Government and the former Labour Government) rather than from leakages, no more holding back of information, the public need to be told, the world needs to know what really has happened here.

Aaron Sneddon MCIJ No publishing without permission, the article may be republished with permission only- media@aaronsneddon.co.uk Aaron Sneddon www.aaronsneddon.co.uk