Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi!

Looks like he will be released on compassionate grounds and most probably be on the first plane back to Libya.

The Lockerbie bomber has only three months to live!

Should he be released after what he did? the worst terrorist atrocity on Scottish soil.

Very few have ever been released on these grounds so it is not something which we do regularly.

The relatives of the Americans who died on that plane are not happy and Washington and others have all put their objections forward.

I personally don't see what can be gained by keeping him in prison when he will be dead soon but, then I didn't lose anyone because of him.

It looks like he will be out tomorrow.

He did the crime, he should do the time, whether his life is being cut short or not. Why should he walk "free" in his last 3 months while those he killed will never get 1 day back? He can die in jail.

What will be gained by making him die in prison?

he has protested his innocence since the day he was convicted, only in the last 2 days he dropped his latest appeal because he is going to die soon and will not be able to see it through.

He will be on licence so although out of prison not technically free.

I really just don't see the point in making him spend his last days in a prison bed some claim to see that justice has been done, what justice is there in showing no compassion for someone who is dying.

They say because he showed no compassion to those he killed, so that would make it an eye for an eye (vengeance) does that not just lower us to his level? 

Andie, in your first post, you made it sound like you believed that he, indeed,  committed these crimes.

If he was convicted, then I feel that he should remain in jail.  If he did kill people, then I say he should remain in prison.  He showed no compassion for those lives he snuffed out.  It's not necessarily an eye for an eye.  I think it's more that the punishment should fit the crime.  He killed people who had no chance to go home and say goodby to their loved ones or die in a soft comfortable bed.  Why should he be allowed to?

On a side note: I don't know his medical situation.  If he needs medical attention, then he should be sent to a hospital.  That's a little different than simply being sent home to do as he will until he dies..

Original Post by andie-1:

I really just don't see the point in making him spend his last days in a prison bed some claim to see that justice has been done, what justice is there in showing no compassion for someone who is dying.

They say because he showed no compassion to those he killed, so that would make it an eye for an eye (vengeance) does that not just lower us to his level? 

Thats fine with me and I'm sure its fine with the families of his victims too. He should spend his final days staring at a concrete prison wall, or even better, at pictures of the faces of those he murdered. It sickens me that he will probably be welcomed as a hero on his native soil.

A controversial observation, no doubt. The Americans show some double standards when it comes to punishment for terrorism.  Having lavishly financed the IRA for decades allowing them to murder innocent people by the hundred and then presiding, in the shape of Senator George Mitchell, over a peace process that released many of these convicted terrorists back into the community (in rude health rather than close to death) I didn't hear too many Americans complaining at the time.

Different when it's your own that suffer, isn't it?

Peaches: he, not me proclaims his innocence as far as i am concerned he has spent a long time in prison so there must have been evidence to put him there and until proven to be a miscarriage then he is guilty.

He is dying of prostate cancer so the chances are he will not have an easy death if you will and justly so i don't feel any compassion for his suffering from this.

I still just don't see a valid argument as to what would be gained by forcing him to do this in a prison bed. The chances are because of the cancer and on medical grounds he would be moved to a hospital anyway what is the difference if that hospital is in Scotland or Libya.

Relatives of those Scottish people who were killed (not all but quite a few) don't have a problem with him being allowed to travel home to die (so they say on the news). Apparently most objections are coming from the US I just wondered why?

Of course your justice system comes down a lot harder on criminals than ours does maybe it's just that? I don't know.

I'm with Jane on this one.  Under the Good Friday Peace agreement brokered by Bill Clinton / George Mitchell, convicted terrorists were not only freed, but are in government in Northern Ireland.  That is something that has had to be swallowed by the victims of the troubles in Northern Ireland, in the interests of  lasting and sustainable peace.

As I understand it, the evidence against Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi was seriously questionable, and there was a very good chance that his appeal would have been allowed.  It was dropped only because he probably wouldn't have lived to see it through.

Still - at least he's had a trial and due legal process....

Original Post by demerara:

I'm with Jane on this one.  Under the Good Friday Peace agreement brokered by Bill Clinton / George Mitchell, convicted terrorists were not only freed, but are in government in Northern Ireland.  That is something that has had to be swallowed by the victims of the troubles in Northern Ireland, in the interests of  lasting and sustainable peace.

Same thing happened in South Africa and probably many other conflict zones thne world over. Compromises seemingly have to be made for the sake of peace. Yesterday's terrorists are today's freedom fighters and tommorow's political leaders. But this murderer is not being released for the sake of peace between Libya and the UK. He is being released on compassionate grounds so that he can die at home with his family. When you do something as incomprehensibly vicious as blow up a planeload of inncent people, I don't see why you deserve to be treated with the dignity, mercy and humanity you have so abstractly failed to demonstrate to your fellow man.

Forgiveness does not come easy for most of us. Our natural instinct is to recoil in self-protection when we've been injured. We don't naturally overflow with mercy, grace and forgiveness when we've been wronged.

every person walks in different shoes!!

What I really want to know andie, is how many times you had to switch tabs back and forth while trying to spell this douchebag's name.

From what I understand the precedent of Scottish Law prevailed.  What Americans think about it is irrelevant.  No, he wouldn't have been released from prison to die if he were in the USA but then again the USA still has the death penalty so obviously we have a lot to learn.

*straps tr to the lounge electric chair*

Say that again to my face.

Original Post by pappitas:

Forgiveness does not come easy for most of us. Our natural instinct is to recoil in self-protection when we've been injured. We don't naturally overflow with mercy, grace and forgiveness when we've been wronged.

every person walks in different shoes!!

 nicely summed up.

Original Post by gi-jane:

...The Americans show some double standards when it comes to punishment for terrorism.  Having lavishly financed the IRA for decades allowing them to murder innocent people by the hundred...

Ya, remember when the US financed those terrorists who walking into a football stadium in the middle of a game and openned fire into the stands full of innocent people?

Wait... that wasn't the US? 

I think it's silly to release him from prison.  Going to prison is a little like getting married.  For better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and health, for as long as you shall rot in a 6x9 cell with a toilet bolted to the wall.

Original Post by pavlovcat:

What I really want to know andie, is how many times you had to switch tabs back and forth while trying to spell this douchebag's name.

3 times :D

He's home!

What if he continues to live after three months or how ever much time the've given him?  Will they bring him back to jail.  I've known people with little time to live that are still alive ten years later.

Yeah me too!

The answer to your question is no he would not. In all honesty i don't know if you have seen the coverage of him arriving back in Libya...he really does not look like a well man.

Bringing the IRA into the discussion is faulty logic. Scotland and Libya weren't embroiled in a raging land battle that has spanned hundreds of years.

In the US we don't usually send dying prisoners home if they've been sentenced to life. If Scotland does that, fine. While I understand the American families of the victims are angry, there's not much to be done about it.