The Guardian has arranged a group of “leading thinkers” to give their views on the release of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi from prison on compassionate grounds. There is a quite a split in the liberal establishment over this issue.
I find myself completely in agreement with Geoffrey Roberston QC. Unfortunately this doesn’t appear to be online, which is a real shame. But his first paragraph sums up my feelings exactly:
“It seems to me an utter perversion of the maning of compassion, both in law and morality, to suggest that an unrepentant, mass murderer of entirely innocent human beings should not be required to end his life in prison.”
He also makes an important point about the morally corrupt thinking behind Kenny MacAskill’s bizarre
decision:
“The decision to release him for what any person of any intelligence at all would forsee as a hero’s welcome in Libya was lacking in compassion to every victim of terrorism and makes an absurdity of the principle of punishment as a detterent.”
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