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Lockerbie bomber return to Libya desision to be made

by mudricky | May 7, 2009 at 12:55 pm

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Terminally ill Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing may drop an appeal to have his guilty verdict over turned, so he can return to Libra before he dies of prostate cancer.

Former Libyan secret agent would live out the rest of under house arrest, but this cannot happen while an appeal is in progress, and the appeal to become complete could still take a year.

Al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of carrying out the 1988 bombing of a Pan-Am flight 103 that exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270.

The request became official on Tuesday and only six days ago the UK government in London and their counterparts in Libra have drafted terms for a possible transfer.

It is now up to the Scottish First Minister and his governemnt to make the final decision on whether the deal is done because Al-Megrahi has been prosecuted under Scottish law.

Most political parties in Scotland are opposed to the transfer.

A decision on whether the Lockerbie bomber is to be transferred to Libya will be taken on "judicial grounds alone", the First Minister said.

The Libyan authorities submitted a request on Wednesday for the transfer of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi. The 57-year-old - who has been diagnosed with prostrate cancer - is currently serving a life term in Greenock prison for the 1988 bombing that killed 270 people.

The second appeal against conviction by Megrahi began in Edinburgh last week, but this must be dropped if his transfer to a Libyan jail is to take place.

Alex Salmond, speaking during First Minister's Questions on Thursday, said it would have been "greatly to be preferred if the judicial processes of Scotland" were allowed to take their course.

But Mr Salmond insisted that the decision on the prisoner transfer - which will be considered by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill - would be based solely on judicial grounds.

Mr Salmond stressed: "What I have said throughout this process is that everything we do as a government will uphold the integrity of the Scottish judicial system.

"Let me repeat that today and also say the decision made by the Justice Secretary will not be made on economic grounds or on political grounds; it will be made on judicial grounds and judicial grounds alone."

The issue had been raised by Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott, who said that he believed that "al Megrahi should serve his sentence in Scotland".

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mudricky

at 13:11 on May 7th, 2009

I don't know what anyone else thinks about this, but there is no way Megrahi should be allowed to return home.

I'm not a hard person and yeah Megrahi is going to die soon of cancer, but he was found guilty of the UK's worst mass murder - he's serving life and that's where his life should end, in HM Prison Greenock doing his time.

Tina Kells

at 16:42 on May 7th, 2009

I always find these cases hard to deal with; as a human I feel for another suffering person but when they have done such terrible things it can be tough to truly sympathize.