Lockerbie bomber

[doctorsimon]

So, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the Libyan man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, has been released by the Scottish authorities on compassionate grounds to return home to Libya to die. He has terminal prostate cancer and a life expectancy of less than three months.

There is a lot of controversy about this matter in the UK media from our US friends. Was he truly guilty? Should a dying man, guilty or not of such an awful crime, be allowed some compassion when in his final months?

I'd love to hear your opinions about the news.


Simon.

 

[RazorDingo]

Compassionate release of prisoners, even relatively obscure ones, is extremely rare under any circumstances in the United States.

Part of this is due to "truth in sentencing" laws that make it legally almost impossible for parole boards to grant release, even to inmates who are on the point of death.

Obviously, here in the US we feel strongly about the Lockerbie bomber - especially since most of the victims (169 of 243) were US citizens. But secondly, we have spent most of the last decade, a couple trillion dollars, and almost five thousand of our servicepeople's lives supposedly fighting against terrorists. To let even one of them go free, no matter what the circumstances, strikes many people as terribly wrong.

There is much to be said for the humanity of the Scottish government in permitting al-Megrahi to die at home, comforted and surrounded by his family. I will only note that this was a decency he denied his 243 victims.

 

[DanOK]

Graffiti from April 19,1995, Oklahoma City;

" We search for Truth
We seek Justice
the courts require it
the Victims cry for it
and God demands it "

Compassion would have been the death penalty.

 

[Obsessed]

It's hard to imagine why they did this unless there is some underlying diplomatic or intelligence reason that is not being publicized.

 

[Nils]

There is much to be said for the humanity of the Scottish government in permitting al-Megrahi to die at home, comforted and surrounded by his family. I will only note that this was a decency he denied his 243 victims.

I think this is precisely the point. We should not allow the enemies of a free society the triumph of seeing us become inhuman. It has always been the aim of terrorists to try and make the state more repressive by their actions, thus enabling them to gain more support.
Therefore it is very important imho to strictly apply the same standards of jurisdiction towards terrorists as to any other prisoner. This denies them the claim of being 'political prisoners' or worse 'prisoners of war'. They are nothing special, they're criminals and should be treated like any other criminal.
I can understand that this imust be very hard on the families of the victims.

 

[joto]

Sorry, I think he should have spent the rest of his soon-to-be-over life in prison. Think of his crimes, his victims, and all the hassle we went through (Sactions on Libya) to get our hands on him. Want real justice? Toss him out of an airplane at 30,000 feet sans parachute. That should simulate the last terrifying moments of some of his victims quite nicely.

 

[kwk285]

Even though he showed no compassion to the people that he killed on the plane, to me it was right to release him to die at home as I feel somebody that is that sick should be able to do. If I am unwilling to show compassion and forgiveness, I am afraid that I will be no better than the evil that I come across.

 

[Brodirt]

There is some subtext that this has to do with their, Libya's, "good" behavior as a country over the past few years. Its BS to me. Compassion would have been for a prison guard to finish him off before the big C does.

 

[chfair]

i dunno why they would release him under any circumstances to be honest. part of me thinks he should carry out his sentence as was intended, if i am not mistaken it was almost assured he would die of old age in prison. i don't see how the form of death changes the sentence put forth.

yet another part of me is glad that there is compassion being shown, though i think his activity should be extremely limited now that he has been released (he should not be making book deals and seeing the world in his last few months). maybe letting him experience what he took away from so many others will show something to him and his family that the rest of the world can use as a point of hope, that is the chance to say goodbye and spend the end of your time with family and loved ones.

 

[jazzman]

Everyone dies of something. A life sentence for a particularly heinous crime should mean that you die in prison. Some will die in their sleep, some will die of a sudden heart attack, and many will become very sick with a terminal illness. I can understand a compassionate release for most crimes, including most murders, but not for this.

 

[Bflobill 1125]

I agree Jazzman..............This crime was so very heinous that even though I am a very compassionate man I was not in favor of a release in this case.A young woman from a nice family in my general area was on that flight and her family must be hurting over Scotland's decision.

 

[rickw]

I'm no longer in favor of the death penalty; it is only enforced in Texas and Florida anyway. In its place I would send them to a place like California's Pelican Bay. Lockdown 23 hours a day and virtually no human contact. This method was also used at Australia's Port Arthur.

 

[DanOK]

Hey.... why does Texas and Florida get all the credit. You murder someone in Oklahoma and we'll kill your dumb-***.

 

[Chuckaluck]

Hey.... why does Texas and Florida get all the credit. You murder someone in Oklahoma and we'll kill your dumb-***.

same here for Ohio.

 

[Roman414]

Some people have doubts as to his guilt. Be that as it may, when you show compassion for another human being it is not about who he is, it is but about who you are.

 

[toucanlamp]

Pretty unbelievable, sorry to the British members here, but I think beyond any shadow of a doubt the UK is the most F'd up country in the Western world politically. It's esentially a totalitarian country with no such thing as individual rights anymore, but when it comes to mass murderers, they'll consider it...

There is something to be said for showing decency to even the worst criminals, in World War II, the Japanese, and the Germans to a much lesser extent mistreated allies POWS very badly, but the USA, the UK and other allied countries (except for Russia) gave very good treatment to their prisoners. That way you can unquestionably take a moral high ground since it's so black and white. By that you can say, we're better than that, no matter what someone else did we don't succumb to the animal nature in us that gets a kick out of seeing someone who made us suffer suffer.

The #1 purpose of justice should be practical - you're a threat to us and so you need to be removed from society, not - you hurt someone I cared about and now you're gonna be sorry! But, even though this doesn't mesh with that principle, I tend to think that it is simply common sense that if a person willfully and consciously decides to end another person's life, they have forfeited their right to a free life for good.

Letting someone out like this is a reward, not mere compassion. If they think they screwed up in convicting him, the way to show it isn't to let him go on compassionate grounds. But if you convict someone you better be sure they are guilty and if that person took other lives willingly, then they lose all right to all the extras in life that are nice but not required for health or sanity.

This case just screamed of "someone is damn well going to take the fall for this, no matter what", but that's a different issue entirely.

 

[SRock]

I'm torn on this particular issue. I believe that compassion has its place and I agree with those who argue that by doing this we (meaning society in general) are not stooping to his level. However, I also agree with those who pointed out he likely would have died in prison anyway. So what is the difference now or in 15 years? He was guilty of horrid crimes that will never be forgotten and by many it will never be forgiven either.

 

[alexo]

At this point, it's either you send him sitting in a passenger seat in an airplane or a few weeks/months later, his body in a box. The main reason to send him alive to die in Lybia is to prevent him from becoming a martyr, creating many more terrorists just by dying in jail.

 

[Leche]

243 people were murdered. Their families and friends waiting for them to only find out some maniac blew them up. The only solace they had was this worthless punk would never do this again because he was behind bars, serving the only justice they would get, life in prison. These families just got another smack down. When did we get to the point of only thinking about the criminals? Disgusting and tragic if you ask me.

 

[Leche]

At this point, it's either you send him sitting in a passenger seat in an airplane or a few weeks/months later, his body in a box. The main reason to send him alive to die in Lybia is to prevent him from becoming a martyr, creating many more terrorists just by dying in jail.

The guy will still be a martyr. He will inspire more terrorists.