This Seems Awkward…
The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.Gordon Brown’s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.
The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi’s release.
The correspondence makes it plain that the key decision to include Megrahi in a deal with Libya to allow prisoners to return home was, in fact, taken in London for British national interests.
There are conceivably defensible rationales for letting a guy who murdered 270 people out of prison. This ain’t one of them.
All of which would be useful if we’d ever had such a guy in prison. The compassionate release was pushed through to avoid the tricky business of an appeal over the almost total lack of proper evidence. Far better to appear magnanimous than to admit that we jailed an innocent man.