Merged [Ed] Convicted Lockerbie bomber released

Well, perhaps this guy will visit London and ride the subway. I hear sometimes that's a death penalty offense, and without the bother of a trial.
 
I see that nobody has commented on the fact that this terrorist (who just may be innocent like so many others) was given a hero's welcome in Libya.

Is it at all possible that his triumphant return may encourage others to become terrorists themselves? The propaganda value to al Qaeda must be enormous.
 
Megrahi looked a lot better getting off the plane, punching the air, then he did getting on.
 
I'm sorry to be dismissive to those who claim that Megrahi may be innocent so his release is probably alright.

I believe that the Scottish justice system is fair and not corrupt, so unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary, I'm going with the verdict.
 
I'm sorry to be dismissive to those who claim that Megrahi may be innocent so his release is probably alright.

I believe that the Scottish justice system is fair and not corrupt, so unless there is compelling evidence to the contrary, I'm going with the verdict.

I don't think anyone here has made the argument that his release on compassionate grounds is only OK because there is doubt over his conviction, most seem to support it regardless of whether he actually planted the bomb.

As for his being welcomed back to Libya as a hero, Libya ranks 152/168 in Reporters without Borders index of press freedom, so I imagine that most Libyans view him as a brave member of the Libyan security services who was wrongly convicted of a terrible crime in the country that bombed their capital for no clear reason, and without consequences in 1986. (I don't imagine the distinctions between Scotland and the UK are entirely clear to them.) So why wouldn't they welcome him home?
 
As for his being welcomed back to Libya as a hero, Libya ranks 152/168 in Reporters without Borders index of press freedom, so I imagine that most Libyans view him as a brave member of the Libyan security services who was wrongly convicted of a terrible crime in the country that bombed their capital for no clear reason, and without consequences in 1986. (I don't imagine the distinctions between Scotland and the UK are entirely clear to them.) So why wouldn't they welcome him home?

I assume Scotland would know this, and know the propaganda value of his release.
 
Megrahi looked a lot better getting off the plane, punching the air, then he did getting on.


That wasn't him. If you look at the whole footage, the person punching the air was one of the guys who helped him down the steps just afterwards. I'm not quite certain, but I think it was someone who met the plane at Tripoli, who had not travelled on it.

Rolfe.
 
I assume Scotland would know this, and know the propaganda value of his release.

You need to resend your email address in to NWO HQ as you obviously missed a memo. Libya was welcomed back into the fold of international good guys some years ago, we don't need to worry about propaganda value.

And as a serious answer. I don't think propaganda value to foreign nations should be something the Scottish justice system considers.
 
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As for his being welcomed back to Libya as a hero, Libya ranks 152/168 in Reporters without Borders index of press freedom, so I imagine that most Libyans view him as a brave member of the Libyan security services who was wrongly convicted of a terrible crime in the country that bombed their capital for no clear reason, and without consequences in 1986. (I don't imagine the distinctions between Scotland and the UK are entirely clear to them.) So why wouldn't they welcome him home?


I've been wondering about this too. Surely these people welcoming him are not cheering the horrific murder of 270 people. I think you've nailed it there.

Rolfe.
 
For what its worth, Im half Scottish and half English and I live in Wales.
I hate nationalists with a vengeance.
Whatever their nationality, I dont discriminate in my loathing of them.
Its good to not discriminate, after all.


Never mind, Scissorhands. We don't hate you. We quite like you, really.

:grouphug5

Rolfe.
 
Just for information, 'cos I ain't dredging up two-year-old news reports now, a reminder about the 2007 "deal in the desert".

In May 2007 Tony Blair met Gaddafi to finalise an agreement between the UK and Libya which had been some time in the negotiating process. This deal was one of the last things Blair did in his time as Prime Minister. It just happened to coincide with BP signing a large oil contract with Libya. The deal covered law, extradition and prisoner transfer, specifically allowing the transfer of Libyan prisoners in the UK back to Libya. While obviously this lot wasn't cooked up and agreed on in five minutes, it was finally signed in late May.

The news of the deal wasn't made public immediately, and when it was, there was an almighty row. The only Libyan prisoner in the UK was Megrahi, and he was imprisoned under Scottish jurisdiction. Blair had no authority to agree a prisoner transfer for him.

The little wrinkle was that in early May, the SNP narrowly and unexpectedly won the Scottish general election, meaning that Tony Blair's yes-man Jack McConnell was no longer First Minister. Blair signed the deal anyway, but then declared that it had nothing to do with Megrahi and Megrahi was excluded anyway. This infuriated Tripoli, who declared that of course it was about Megrahi, it had always been about Megrahi, who else would it be about, and Tony Blair had been perfectly clear to them that the deal was all about getting Megrahi back to Tripoli. They knew, of course, that the matter was one of Scottish jurisdiction, but declared that Blair had assured him that this would not be a problem.

Alex Salmond, by then First Minister, let it be known that he was absolutely livid about the deal. It was perfectly clear that while the deal was in the making, Blair had assumed that he would be able to instruct his subordinate McConnell what to do about Megrahi, but of course Salmond wasn't going to take Blair's orders. There was a lot of correspondence at the time, taking the line that while there were doubts about Megrahi's guilt and perhaps his imprisonment was a miscarriage of justice, this was not any of Blair's damn business.

The whole thing was rendered moot very soon afterwards, when the SCCRB published its findings and gave Megrahi leave to lodge a second appeal. No prisoner transfer can take place if there is an outstanding appeal, so it was off the agenda anyway. (Everybody seems to have forgotten that there was always an outstanding appeal, the Crown appeal against sentence, but that was dormant and not being pursued.)

So, it didn't happen. But in the spring of 2007 Tony Blair signed a deal which would have resulted in Megrahi probably being transferred to Libya later that year, if he'd still been in a position to give orders to the Scottish Executive.

Rolfe.
 
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For what its worth, Im half Scottish and half English and I live in Wales.
I hate nationalists with a vengeance.
Whatever their nationality, I dont discriminate in my loathing of them.
Its good to not discriminate, after all.

Theres nationalists and nationalists.

I am a nationalist, I guess you hate me.
 
Given the lack of freedom of the press referred to, we will never know I suppose.;)

I have been to Libya and I never saw one newspaper outside Tripoli. Everything is controlled by Gaddafi. There is no freedom of the ppress at all.

The vast majority of the country will not have any idea who he is or what he was supposed to have done. Even if they know who he is they will have a skewed version of what he was imprisoned for.

[anecdote mode on]

When I went to the christmas meal (yes, in a muslim country!) with all the guys from the location in 2007, none of the 4 local guys at my table had any idea what the embargos and sanctions were. They did not even know they existed and that they had been lifted . These were a mix of guys, some older and some younger.

[anecdote mode off /]
 
Theres nationalists and nationalists.

I am a nationalist, I guess you hate me.


I think that was his point. He hates you, and he hates me, and he hates Architect, and he hates ever one of the dozen or so other forum members who support Scottish independence.

We don't hate him though, and I think that's all we can do about it.

Rolfe.
 
I think that was his point. He hates you, and he hates me, and he hates Architect, and he hates ever one of the dozen or so other forum members who support Scottish independence.

We don't hate him though, and I think that's all we can do about it.

Rolfe.

I think it is sad when anyone can hate someone for wanting self determination for their country.

Many people/countries are quick to push Eastern European states for self rule and a move away from the USSR but snear at Scotland wanting the same thing? Hypocritical.

Have you done a tour at the UN before?
 

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