Legal Commentary

Support for Scotland's Decision to Release Dying Lockerbie Bomber Inmate

By Jeralyn

Here is the statement of Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's on the release and return to Libya of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi:

It is quite clear to the medical experts that Al-Megrahi has a terminal illness, and indeed that there has recently been a significant deterioration in his health... It therefore falls to me to decide whether he should be released on compassionate grounds.

....Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion be available. Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown. Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people. No matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.

[More...]

For these reasons – and these reasons alone – it is my decision that Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill, be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die.

TalkLeft supports the decision. I wish the our justice system shared those values. Susan Atkins should be released to die at home too. Gov. Schwarzengger today said he won't block release for Deborah Peagler, another dying inmate serving a life sentence for murder. We need more of these decisions, not fewer.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 20, 2009 (boomark / email).