The Libyan convicted of murdering 270 people by placing a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988 has been released by a Scottish court on “compassionate grounds”.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, a former Libyan intelligence operative, was convicted in 2001 of the mass murder and sentenced to life in prison.

An extraordinary Scottish court, sitting in Camp Zeist, the Netherlands, had decided that he had been responsible for the atrocity, which killed all 259 onboard the US airliner as well as 11 on the ground in the small Scottish town of Lockerbie where debris from the disintegrating plane landed.

He had always maintained his innocence and was pursuing a further appeal through the courts. However, in order to be eligible for release and repatriation to Libya, he gave up that appeal prior to Thursday’s court session.

The Thursday session was only a formality, as, following extensive negotiations between UK and Libya, as well as reports from medical specialists, Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill had already decided to release Megrahi on “compassionate grounds” because the Libyan suffers from terminal prostate cancer and is expected to have less than three months to live.

MacAskill emphasized that he considered Megrahi guilty as convicted, but explained that the “Scots defined themselves by their humanity.”

“Mr. al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them,” he said.

“But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.”

“Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed, but compassion be available.”

In view of MacAskill’s decision, a chartered Libyan aircraft was already waiting at Glasgow Airport by the time Megrahi was driven from Scotland’s Greenock Prison in a police convoy directly to the airport.

He climbed the steps of the waiting Afriqiyah Airways airliner at 15:09 local time and left Scottish terra firma precisely 18 minutes later for the Libyan capital Tripoli, where his family and friends will be waiting for him.

There had been considerable opposition to Megrahi’s release from many of the family members of the victims of the bombing and from politicians. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said his release would be “absolutely wrong.”

Source: Press TV

Picture Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8213227.stm