At the time of the release of Ali Abdelbaset Al-Magrahi, there was considerable anger. Those who believed in the verdict of the court were outraged. others, like myself, were angry because the release ensured that evidence that might have been used in his appeal of his conviction would not be presented in open court. As a result, the conviction of one man acting alone- which seems at best implausible- will now continue to stand.
However, at the time I was prepared to defend the British government, since the release on compassionate grounds had both the force of the legal system as well as a certain natural justice.
Now, we have discovered that the Labour government did everything in its political power to ensure the release- going so far as to coach Al-Magrahi's supporters- including the odious Gaddafi- as to how to pitch their legal campaign.
Almost every assurance that was given by the Labour Ministers of the day was totally dishonest.
It is frankly despicable. A contemptuous rejection of the force of law and the deepest feelings of those still prepared to accept the terms of the original trial and most importantly of all, the relatives of the victims and survivors of the Lockerbie outrage.
In my view the decisions taken were little short of an abuse of office. It would be entirely appropriate for those involved to be investigated either by a public inquiry, or better still by judicial proceedings against them.
Comments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/8310160/Lockerbie-bomber-US-puts-Brown-in-the-dock.html
This is actually serious, and for you to anonymously pooh pooh it, does not mean that this is going away.
I saw the Lockerbie aftermath and if it turns out that there is a case to answer it will be a national disgrace and a whole lot of people will be very angry indeed.
The US Government has not moved against Gordon Brown.
It's sad that among all the fascinating stuff about Estonia and its neighbours - you were most prescient on the state of politics in Russia recently - there is a desire to dump on anything called Labour.
As Tim says, the article you link too states it isn't the "US government" but rather a couple of senators.
And you're distorting the facts of the case, making it seem that Brown was personally advising Gaddafi. When the in fact all that happened was through normal diplomatic channels the government provided the Libyan government with factual advise. Nothing release in GOD's report was new, all the details were known at the time.