It is reported that Abdelbaset Ali Al-Megrahi, the Libyan who was convicted of bombing Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 that killed 270 people is to be released on compassionate grounds; he is said to have terminal prostate cancer.
Although the Scottish government denied he could be released next week saying his case was under review, the reports, nevertheless, are cause for deep concern. It will be a travesty of justice that a man found guilty of the worst terrorist act on British soil should be released simply because he is dying. What compassion did he have for his victims? Releasing him because he is dying seems to put compassion for a mass murderer above compassion for his victims. It is wrong.
There are, however, many who say he is innocent and that his trial was a deliberate miscarriage of justice organized by the British and the Americans to put Libya in the dock internationally. It did certainly happen. On the back of the conviction, sanctions were imposed by the UN that brought Libya to its knees. New evidence, however, has come to light since the 2001 court case which could indicate that the bomb was planted at London’s Heathrow Airport rather than in Malta as the Scottish prosecution authorities claimed. Certainly Al-Megrahi was convicted on circumstantial evidence — that the bomb had been wrapped in clothing bought in Malta by him. On the other hand, his first appeal against conviction was rejected as was an earlier recent appeal for compassionate release on medical grounds. The fact that he has been granted the unusual right to a second appeal against conviction is not itself an admission that the judgment was wrong, but simply an acceptance that it needs to be revisited in case there has been a miscarriage of justice.
The argument that he has to be treated as innocent because others in the plot have not been caught is ridiculous. Just because some criminals evade detection or capture should never mean that co-conspirators who are caught should escape justice. It stands to reason that others were involved in the Pan Am bombing; it could not have been done by one man alone. It is the question of Al-Megrahi’s innocence or guilt that raises concern about releasing him. If he is innocent then he should be released. If he is guilty, he should not. His health is irrelevant. There are grounds for suspecting his conviction; they may turn out to be untrue; but they need to be investigated. That is where efforts have to be directed. It is in everyone’s interest that justice is done, not only for Al-Megrahi but for the victims and their families. The full truth of what happened has never been found. Al-Megrahi’s co-conspirators, assuming he is guilty, have never been identified. If he is innocent, then the case needs to be reopened and the guilty tracked down. Releasing him, just because he is dying, is a bad decision. It looks like the Scottish government is walking away from its responsibilities to justice and the victims’ families — letting him go off and die somewhere else without reprieving him, hoping that will be an end of the matter. That is not justice.
