[Closed] Megrahi released....

no, it would be tragic

Moreso if it blew up and someone was wrongly convicted for it111

Does anyone actually believe he was wrongly convicted, or just that he wasn't the only person involved?

I'm not entirely sure, there was a lot of pressure to convict someone.

I'm not entirely sure, there was a lot of pressure to convict someone.

Indeed there was, however the trial was held under intense media scrutiny in another country and by three of Scotlands senior judges. Other than an impression that he's a scapegoat I haven't heard anyone really dispute the evidence that convicted him. His appeal also found the same.

I don't think he was the only one involved, but I don't think there is any doubt he deserved to be convicted and - given the seriousness of the offence - that he should never have been released.

I've not followed the case but was lectured at the time by Robert Black (the architect of the trial - i.e. he set up the Scottish court abroad) and he later had serious doubts about an aspect of the conviction.

[i]Other than an impression that he's a scapegoat I haven't heard anyone really dispute the evidence that convicted him[/i]

Dr Hans Köchler, one of the UN observers at the trial, expressed serious doubts about the fairness of the proceedings and spoke of a "spectacular miscarriage of justice".

There you go...

"Megrahi's conviction was a shocker. No material evidence was presented linking him to the bombing, let alone any evidence that he put the bomb on the plane or that he handled any explosives."

From [url= http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/hugh-miles-lockerbie-was-it-iran-syria-all-i-know-is-it-wasnt-the-man-in-prison-1206086.html ]this piece[/url] in the Independent.

"I haven't heard anyone really dispute the evidence that convicted him"

Read "The Flight From Justice" by Paul Foot.

Or Jim Swires Website

http://www.lockerbietruth.com/

Wish I could remember the details, but the Eye did a special on his case a while ago (maybe around the time of his first appeal?) and after reading it I did wonder how on earth he'd been found guilty.
Ransos - presumably that is not a quote from Paul Foot. If it is, my memory is much worse than i thought as i thought he wrote the Eye's report?

Edit - Coming out of Dunce mode - "The flight from justice" [i]was[/i] the private eye report. Sheesh.

I think I saw the definitive comment on this, from a US motorbike website... "It's a disgrace that he's being allowed to die before he finishes his sentence"

I do hope that comment from the biking website was a joke?

Nope, it was an angry american getting carried away. I'd said "his sentence was for 27 years, but not to die in prison" and this was the response. Class. No doubt he thought the NHS wasn't treating his cancer because he's not important enough, or something, since we're all reds.

Personally, I think its a shocker he's walked away from serving his sentence.

However, there is a part of me that wonders whether the whole thing was set from the start to have a martyr for the guilt aspect of it, and that a deal was done back in Jan 2001 (... or even prior to that ) that they would get out at after a certain time.

Trouble being that the twin towers attack came shortly after conviction and that keeps such airplane attacks fresh in the mind.

Is he cycling home then?

I'm of the opinion that he was one the receiving end of a spectacular miscarriage of justice.

This was mentioned on an R4 discussion as being possibly related,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

The original verdict looks iffy to me

Leaving aside whether he's guilty or not, by letting a man home to die on compassionate grounds it shows we're better than they are, which is why ultimately the terrorists won't win.

i think Scotland may look foolish for this decision unless they come clean on the true motives of his release. Approx 2 weeks for every person?

what kennyp said.

[i]Approx 2 weeks for every person?[/i]
and how many if he was to die in jail in a few weeks/months?

[i]i think Scotland may look foolish for this[/i]
only if we see him beating usain bolt at the next olympics...