Scotland freed the terminally ill Lockerbie bomber on compassionate grounds yesterday, allowing him to go home to Libya to die despite US protests that mercy should not be shown to the man responsible for the deaths of 270 people.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said Abdel Baset al-Megrahi’s condition had deteriorated from prostate cancer. Al-Megrahi had only served about eight years of a life sentence, but MacAskill said he was bound by Scottish values to release him.
“Our belief dictates that justice be served but mercy be shown,” MacAskill said, ordering that al-Megrahi “be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die.”
“Some hurts can never heal, some scars can never fade,” he said. “Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive ... However, Mr al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power.”
Al-Megrahi, 57, was convicted in 2001 of taking part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on Dec. 21, 1988. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The airliner blew up as it flew over Scotland. All 259 people aboard and 11 on the ground died when the aircraft crashed into the town of Lockerbie.
The former Libyan intelligence officer was sentenced to serve a minimum of 27 years in a Scottish prison. But a 2007 review of his case found grounds for an appeal of his conviction, and many in the UK believe he is innocent.
The White House said yesterday it “deeply regrets” the decision to free al-Megrahi.
MacAskill, however, said he stood by al-Megrahi’s conviction and the sentence for “the worst terrorist atrocity ever committed on UK soil.”
He said he ruled out sending the bomber back to Libya under a prisoner-transfer agreement, saying the US victims had been given assurances that al-Megrahi would serve out his sentence in Scotland.
But he said that as a prisoner given less than three months to live by doctors, al-Megrahi was eligible for compassionate release.
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