Pan Am 103 Megrahi/Bomber ?

[clippedgull]

I wouldn't fancy being in hacker Gary McKinnons shoes now! The US are mightily pissed off about this.

 

[cjd]

Surely the issue in this case is not whether he is guilty or not guilty, but the fact that just because he is "terminally ill" should he be freed...?

I don't think he should be freed. Does this mean that all terminally ill people can now commit crimes in the time left to them, with impunity...?

 

[Questions]

One final issue, whoever did do it also put PANAM out of business and cost a lot of jobs.

 

[essbee]

Myob,

Do you not think that it reflects better on you as a human being to let this
person out on compassion - than to lower yourself to *their* morals? In other words, live your life to *your* high standards than lower them to his?

Myob- I met you in Dublin back in the glory year of our play-off final btw. You are an intelligent guy - I know I was not a relative, but to move on?

Sorry if this offends - not intended mate.

 

[Gwylan]

What a trypical British compromise. We can't let the world see that this was the dodgiest of convictions, on the flimsiest of grounds, so we quickly sneak him out of prison for compassionate reasons.

The authorities know he should never have been convicted: there are people in the secret services, in the legal profession and the civil service who should be serving sentences for this, but they're going to be picking up MBEs and Ks for 'long and distinguished service', blah, blah, blah.

I

 

[beardy gull]

Interesting reading.....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/mar/31/lockerbie.libya

 

[bhaexpress]

Given the number of times the US have refused to allow us to extradite suspected IRA members I think it's a little ironic that they are now upset about this bloke, guilty or not.

 

[itszamora]

Given the number of times the US have refused to allow us to extradite suspected IRA members I think it's a little ironic that they are now upset about this bloke, guilty or not.

Quite. I'm a big fan of Obama generally but he should stay the f*** out of our affairs on this one.

 

[Brovion]

I've got mixed feelings. Like others I don't think he should be freed simply because he's terminally ill. IF he's guilty then he's going to be allowed to die peacefully in his own bed surrounded by his family and friends, an end that he denied to his victims. That is just WRONG; sorry to go all 'Daily Mail' but given the nature of his crime a lonely death in a prison hospital is the least he deserves. However, as has been pointed out, there's a strong possibility that he isn't guilty at all, and whilst as Gwylan says to let him go is a typical British compromise it could be the 'least worst' option.

The one bit of good news is that finally, at last, we've gone against America's wishes. Maybe we are a sovereign nation after all.

 

[bhaexpress]

Quite. I'm a big fan of Obama generally but he should stay the f*** out of our affairs on this one.

Totally agree, he should stick to sorting out the US health system.

 

[captainmorganrum]

I just read on the BBC, his family had to move to the outskirts of Glasgow to be near him. Surely that's enough reason to release him on compassionate grounds

 

[Cian]

Do you think his conviction was safe?
As I heard one of the relatives (of I think one of the people killed on ground) today on the radio. He said he thought the conviction was unsafe and that he probably did not do it.

I don't think he did it alone. I do think he was involved and that his conviction was safe - having read extensively in to the trial.

My relatives on the ground were the couple living in the house that was hit directly by the engine/wing/fuel tank section in Sherwood Crescent.

 

[brightonbluenose]

I reckon they got ONE of the right people, maybe a sacrificail lamb on the alter of international politics.

He's convicted so should be left to rot imo. Or traded for the killer of yvonne fletcher.

Now if it had been a Yank mass murder who slaughtered 100's of Muslims he would be left to rot.

Yeah - like when the Yank ship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air flight IR655 in 1988 and killed 290 people on board incl 66 kids!!

Lets remind ourselves what happened to the ships captain - he got a fvcking medal!!!

 

[NMH]

It's a blessing for Magrahi that we don't stone or hang, otherwise his trial would probably have been short and led to his early demise.

I think the likelihood they caught one guilty mutha is excellent. In Malta, identified by the shop who sold the clothing (he bought random items of various sizes), and his passport placed him in all the places that he 'needed to be' in order to do the deed.

There may be many people in nick based on dubious evidence, but I doubt very much that he was one of them.

Plus the more Libya make him a hero, the more it points to his being guilty.
No surprise that America has some outrage. Many in the UK do too, so it's ridiculous of some of you who wave your fingers at them as a nation.

 

[brightonbluenose]

It's a blessing for Magrahi that we don't stone or hang, otherwise his trial would probably have been short and led to his early demise.

I think the likelihood they caught one guilty mutha is excellent. In Malta, identified by the shop who sold the clothing (he bought random items of various sizes), and his passport placed him in all the places that he 'needed to be' in order to do the deed.

There may be many people in nick based on dubious evidence, but I doubt very much that he was one of them.

Plus the more Libya make him a hero, the more it points to his being guilty.
No surprise that America has some outrage. Many in the UK do too, so it's ridiculous of some of you who wave your fingers at them as a nation.

He was identified by the shop-keeper who had earlier seen a picture of Megrahi in a magazine article re the bombing - and the the Yanks paid the shop-keeper several million dollars for his evidence!

And as you are aware a number of the British based relatives of the victims think he has been made a scapegoat.

 

[sten_super]

To me, the issue of his guilt (or otherwise) and his compassionate release are entirely different.

He was convicted of a mass murder. On that basis, let him rot in jail.

If the conviction was unsafe, let that come out in the court of appeal.

What I have found most disturbing though is the political capital that ALL of the other parties (except the SNP) have attempted to make from this decision. FFS have some decency.

 

[Icy Gull]

Given the number of times the US have refused to allow us to extradite suspected IRA members I think it's a little ironic that they are now upset about this bloke, guilty or not.

Amazed me how it took 9/11 to make so many Americans realise that freedom fighters blowing up civilians was not quite as glamorous as it seemed to those Yanks with tenuos Irish links, who sent funds to the oppressed IRA.

 

[Chester Drawers]

...err, don't think they did, as far as I could make out from the news coverage he flew home on the President's jet.

Not the presidents jet ... he flew back on an Afriqiyah Airlines Airbus ... Afriqiyah Airlines are a Libyan based airline ...

 

[ATFC Seagull]

The one bit of good news is that finally, at last, we've gone against America's wishes. Maybe we are a sovereign nation after all.

Shows Scotland has the balls to not be the 51st state. Sounds like (without saying as much) the Labour government do not agree with the decision.

 

[The Spanish]

Shows Scotland has the balls to not be the 51st state. Sounds like (without saying as much) the Labour government do not agree with the decision.

I find it hard to buy all this bully for Scotland bit. I find it hard to believe this was done unilaterally and is a reflection on their bollocks rather than English craven-ness.

Anyway, Brenda is sending her boy so the love in continues.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Royal visit to Libya reconsidered