Ministers pushed Lockerbie treaty 'to protect oil interests'

[Peikko 1,575]

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. Photograph: AP

Gordon Brown has been accused of rushing through the ratification of a treaty with Tripoli that could pave the way for the repatriation of the Lockerbie bomber as part of a British push to protect oil interests in Libya.

Amid signs that a decision on the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi could be made within days, senior MPs and peers said ministers in London had overlooked human rights in their haste to ratify the agreement.

Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish justice secretary, is poised to decide whether Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, should be allowed to return home on compassionate grounds. The former Libyan intelligence agent, 57, is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years after being convicted in 2001 of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.

Overnight, the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, also piled more pressure on the Scottish government saying it would be "absolutely wrong" to release Megrahi, adding: "We are still encouraging the Scottish authorities not to do so and we hope that they will not."

Clinton has already called MacAskill to say Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland.

After the bomber's appeal hearing, she told US reporters: "I just think it is absolutely wrong to release someone who has been imprisoned based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime."

Yesterday, three judges at the high court in Edinburgh accepted an application by Megrahi to drop his second appeal against his conviction. The bomber's move has fuelled speculation that he has brokered a deal with the Scottish authorities to clear the way for his return home.

A spokeswoman for MacAskill said that the justice secretary had not yet made a decision and that he could still decide to keep Megrahi in his specially built cell in Greenock prison. Should MacAskill decide to allow Megrahi to return to Libya, he would leave in one of two ways:

• Released into the care of his family on compassionate grounds under existing Scottish law;

• Transferred to a Libyan prison under the terms of the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, signed by Britain and Libya last November and formally ratified on 29 April this year. Currently, this option is seen as unlikely because a Crown appeal against his sentence remains outstanding.

MPs and peers on the joint human rights committee have said they had been denied the chance by the government to scrutinise the treaty properly after ministers rushed through the measure in a bid to protect business interests in Libya.

Jack Straw, the justice secretary, told the committee in a letter on 12 March: "Both the foreign secretary and I believe, in the interests of our judicial and wider bilateral relations with Libya, it is important to ratify... a delay beyond April is likely to lead to serious questions on the part of Libya in regards to our willingness to conclude these agreements."

In a sharply worded response, the committee said: "We... regret that we have been unable to publish a substantive report on the treaty before Easter and, therefore, before ratification."

Andrew Dismore, the Labour chairman of the committee, said the treaty was rushed through to pave the way for the release of Megrahi.

Committee members said the government was keen to protect British business interests. Richard Shepherd, a Conservative member, told the Guardian: "We clearly have an interest because of the discovery of even vaster energy resources. Governments are always juggling that. But that is no reason for us not to scrutinise and see whether a piece of legislation is appropriate."

The Earl of Onslow, another Tory member, said: "This is not a good way to deal with matters of justice. One shouldn't allow whether one has a right to drill for oil in the Gulf of Sidra to have any influence on what is essentially a criminal matter."

In recent years, the government has faced criticism for turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in Libya after Tony Blair formally ended Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's pariah status in March 2004, when he visited the Libyan leader in his tent on the outskirts of Tripoli. Blair made the trip months after Gaddafi announced that he was abandoning Libya's programme to develop weapons of mass destruction.

In the years since Blair's visit, Britain has built extensive business interests with Libya. The Duke of York has made two official visits to Libya over the past two years in his role as Britain's special representative for international trade and investment, as well as what Buckingham Palace described as a "small number" of private visits.

Sir Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Libya, warned that relations would be damaged if Megrahi were allowed to die in prison. But he added: "I think people who try to say [the Megrahi case] is part of an unseemly rush for contract favours are absolutely wrong. This is first and last a judicial matter."

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The Lockerbie bomber has boarded a plane bound for Libya after being freed from prison in Scotland on compassionate grounds.

Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, 57, was jailed in 2001 for the atrocity which claimed 270 lives in 1988.

The decision to release Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, was made by the Scottish Government.

The White House said it "deeply regretted" the decision and some of the US victims' families reacted angrily.

A police convoy left Greenock Prison, where Megrahi was serving his sentence, more than an hour after the announcement of his release was made.

He was taken to Glasgow Airport to board the flight, to Tripoli.

The government said it had consulted widely before Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill made his decision on applications for Megrahi's compassionate release or his transfer to a Libyan jail.

He told a media conference on Thursday that he had rejected the application for a prisoner transfer.

However, after taking medical advice it was expected that three months was a "reasonable estimate" of the time Megrahi had left to live.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announces the release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi

He ruled out the option of the Libyan being allowed to live in Scotland on security grounds.

And he stressed that he accepted the conviction and sentence which had been handed to Megrahi.

However, Mr Macaskill said 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.

Click here to see a map of Megrahi's role

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

Mr MacAskill continued: "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available.

"For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that Mr Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."

Mr MacAskill had been under intense pressure from the US government to keep Megrahi behind bars, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying his release would be "absolutely wrong".

Convoy leaves prison

Reaction: Lockerbie bomber freed

"Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs the we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people - no matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.

Some 189 Americans were among those who died in the airliner explosion.

However, the Scottish Government insisted the decision had been reached "on the basis of clear evidence and on no other factors".

Reacting to the decision, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement: "The United States deeply regrets the decision by the Scottish Executive to release Abdel Basset Mohamed al-Megrahi.

"As we have expressed repeatedly to officials of the government of the United Kingdom and to Scottish authorities, we continue to believe that Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland.

The families of American victims of the Lockerbie bombing reacted angrily to the news.

Kara Weipz, of Mt Laurel, New Jersey, who lost her 20-year-old brother Richard Monetti, said: "I don't understand how the Scots can show compassion. It is an utter insult and utterly disgusting.

"It is horrible. I don't show compassion for someone who showed no remorse."

New York state resident Paul Halsch, whose 31-year-old wife was killed, said of Mr MacAskill's decision: "I'm totally against it. He murdered 270 people.

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I am ashamed to be Scottish today. Where is the justice for the victims?

Ross MacDonald, Edinburgh

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"This might sound crude or blunt, but I want him returned from Scotland the same way my wife Lorraine was and that would be in a box."

Megrahi was convicted of murder in January 2001 at a trial held under Scottish law in the Netherlands.

A first appeal against that verdict was rejected the following year.

However, in 2007 the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission granted him a second appeal.

It subsequently emerged he was suffering from terminal cancer but a bid to have him granted bail was refused.

His second appeal got under way this year but shortly afterwards applications were made for both his transfer to a Libyan jail and release on compassionate grounds.

Earlier this week the High Court in Edinburgh allowed Megrahi's application to drop his second appeal.

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[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Shocking.

[Peikko 1,575]

I listened to the Minister while he made his speech. There were some very interesting points brought up not least the role/attitude of the UK government which quite frankly stinks to high heaven.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Used to think it was pretty terrible that the Home Secretary could extend jail sentences to pander towards public opinion, but this is so much worse.

[Peikko 1,575]

The points of interest for me were that the minister denied the Libyan application for prisoner transfer citing the reason that their was an agreement prior to the trial, assurances made, that anyone found guilty of the crime would be held in a Scottish prison. That he was able to deduce this, despite complete silence from the UK government when he asked for clarification of their position and understanding on this question. I find that absolutely disgraceful, that no UK minister would make any comment on this matter at all, nothing, nil nada.

I also found it interesting that he pointedly referred to a further enquiry into the whole incident and that the scottish justice system would welcome and assist in any such enquiry. There were later interviews with some of the UK victim's families, people who were pleased with the release, because they believe that Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was in fact innocent - they believe he was a scape goat essentially.

Lastly, I found it interesting because of the nature of compassion and what exactly it means. The scottish government firmly believe that compassion is not restricted, can be conferred on anyone, no matter how heinous the nature of their crime. I personally agree that this is how compassion should be viewed - whether one feels comfortable with it on an individual case basis is irrelevant - the concept is that compassion is actually more meaningful the harder it is to bestow. There are some lessons in humanity to be learned from this.

Edited August 20, 2009 by Madame Cleo