Primus backs Scottish decision to free bomber: CEN 8.28.09 p 1.

The Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church has lauded Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill’s decision to release Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds, allowing the convicted Lockerbie bomber to return home to Libya to die.

However, the compassion exhibited by the Justice Minister may have been for British industry not for the dying, opposition leaders have charged in the wake of Libyan statements that the release of the terrorist was a part of a trade deal.

Church leaders gave their blessing last week to the Scottish government’s decision to release Mr. al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer sentenced in 2001 to 27 years imprisonment for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 that killed the 259 passengers and crew of the London to New York flight and 11 people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland. On Aug 20, the government released Mr. al-Megrahi after a medical evaluation indicated the terrorist had less than three months to live due to cancer of the prostate.

The release has sparked outrage from the United States government and raised questions in Westminster and the Scottish parliament about secret deals with Libya.

In a statement released by the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Primus, Bishop David Chillingworth of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, said the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber was “a brave political choice taken in the face of strong pressure from outside Scotland.”

“We respect and honour the courage which the Scottish Government has shown,” he said in light of US lobbying to block Mr. al-Megrahi’s release.

“On one side of the balance is the suffering caused by this appalling act of terrorism and the need to sustain public confidence in our system of justice. On the other side is the need to consider whether, in circumstances such as these, justice should be tempered with mercy and compassion,” he said on Aug 20.

“This decision sends to the world an important and positive message about our values,” Bishop Chillingworth said.

While the Scottish Roman Catholic’s Bishops’ Conference had not taken a position on the matter, the Rev Ian Galloway, convener of the Church of Scotland’s Church and Society Council, concurred with the Primus, saying the release of the Lockerbie bomber “has sent a message to the world about what it is to be Scottish. We are defined as a nation by how we treat those who have chosen to hurt us.”

“We have gained something significant as a nation by this decision. It is a defining moment for all of us,” Mr. Galloway said.

However, opposition leaders have charged the gain to Scotland is more than moral, and have questioned whether the release was part of a quid pro quo in the 2007 £450m exploration deal signed by BP and the Libyan government.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied the release of Mr. al-Megrahi was a secret protocol in the 2007 oil deal, while Lord Mandelson last week stated the accusations were “wrong, completely implausible and quite offensive”.

These comments came after the son of Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddaffi, Saif al-Islam, told Libyan television the release of Mr. al-Megrahi was part of the trade deal reached with the British government. Col. Gaddafi also appeared on state television with Mr. al-Megrahi at his side after the agent’s return to Tripoli thanking “my friends in Scotland, the Scottish National Party, and Scottish prime minister, and the foreign secretary.”

Conservative shadow foreign secretary William Hague has asked the government to release all documents surrounding Mr. Blair’s and Lord Mandelson’s meetings with the Libyan leader and his son to dispel the Libyan claims the release of the terrorist was not part of the commercial deal.

The Scottish Labour Party is expected to call for a debate on Mr. MacAskill’s handling of the affair when the Scottish Parliament reconvenes next month. “The Scottish Parliament has a responsibility to take action to repair some of the damage done,” former First Minister Jack McConnell said.

“We owe it to the victims to make clear that this mistake does not have the support of the nation as a whole,” Mr. McConnell told Scotland on Sunday.

The “deal in the desert” has also drawn protests from the US government, and in an unprecedented move the US FBI director Robert Mueller on Aug 21 denounced Mr. MacAskill’s decision as a mockery of the rule of law.”

“Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world,” Mr. Mueller charged, adding that the Scottish government’s compassion for a murderer who had never sought forgiveness “rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder.”