'Distressed' Megrahi to stay behind bars

THE terminally-ill Lockerbie bomber protested his innocence yesterday and said he was "very distressed" that appeal judges had refused to let him spend his remaining time with his family.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, 56, has prostate cancer and had applied for bail on compassionate grounds pending the hearing next year of an appeal against his conviction.

However, the judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh said they were not prepared to sanction his release at this stage, when his prognosis was uncertain. He could live for years, they said.

While the court did not close the door on another application were Megrahi's condition to worsen markedly, the refusal is bound to be welcomed by many of the families of the 270 victims of the 1988 bombing.

Others who are not convinced he is guilty are disappointed that he will have to remain in Greenock prison.

In a statement issued through his solicitor, Megrahi said: "I am very distressed that the court has refused to grant me bail and denied me the chance to spend my remaining time with my family.

"I wish to reiterate that I had nothing whatsoever to do with the Lockerbie bombing and that the fight for justice will continue, regardless of whether I am alive to witness my name being cleared. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people of Scotland and elsewhere who have taken the time to send me cards and letters of support. Their kindness has touched me and helped me at this difficult time."

Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, was convicted in 2001 of bombing Pan Am flight 103 after a trial held in the Netherlands before three Scottish judges. He was given a life sentence and ordered to serve at least 27 years. An appeal was rejected in 2002, but last year the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission sent the case back to the appeal court, after concluding that he may have suffered a miscarriage of justice.

The new hearing is not expected to begin before next spring, and it may be more than a year before the appeal is determined. Last week Lord Hamilton, the Lord Justice-General, and Lords Kingarth and Wheatley heard an application for interim liberation.

In yesterday's judgment, Lord Hamilton said it was impossible at this stage to assess Megrahi's grounds of appeal and their prospects of success.

He added that Megrahi had decided to lodge many more grounds than the commission had identified, so the appeal would inevitably be protracted. In those circumstances, Megrahi could not complain if an early determination became impossible.

The central factor in the bail application was Megrahi's health, and Lord Hamilton said the cancer was unpredictable.

"According to a report by a consultant clinical oncologist, his prognosis depends crucially on his response to hormonal treatment, a palliative treatment which he has now commenced. Depending on his response, his life expectancy may be in years," he said. "With the exception of some mild discomfort, he remains symptom-free."

The judges accepted that psychological effects were likely to be eased if Megrahi, as he proposed, were to live with his family at an address in the west of Scotland. "The critical question is, against the background of the atrocity of which he stands convicted, whether his health, present and prospective, is such that the court should on compassionate grounds now admit him to bail. On balance, the court is not persuaded on the information before it that it should," Lord Hamilton said.

Had Megrahi been released, it is likely he would have stayed with his family at a house owned by them in Newton Mearns, a suburb of Glasgow.

Scottish ministers can allow compassionate release of prisoners, but usually when life expect-ancy is less than three months.

Should the Lockerbie bomber have been released?

Yes

Dr JIM SWIRE,whose daughter, Flora, died in the bombing and who supported the application.

IT HAS never been a goal of our group (UK Families-Flight 103] to seek revenge, and the refusal of a return to his family for a dying man, whose verdict is not even yet secure, looks uncomfortably like either an aspect of revenge or perhaps timidity.

It seems tragic that Scottish justice has missed a golden opportunity to display mercy in a situation where it has been unable to complete the appeal process within a reasonable time frame. It must bear some responsibility for the dilemmas posed by having a dying man in its custody, whose guilt or innocence it still has not finally decided.

No doubt the prisoner will now apply to (Scottish justice minister) Kenny MacAskill for release on compassionate grounds.

Personally, I hope that he does – and that he succeeds. A mix of courage and compassion is required.

Both are Christian virtues, I believe.

It would be a brave decision to release this man, but it would be the right decision.

I would image there may have been political pressure from across the Atlantic, but I wouldn't like to say whether that has been brought to bear in this decision.

No

DANIEL COHEN, an American writer whose daughter Theodora died in the atrocity.

I THINK the Scottish court made absolutely the right decision. Because of the enormity of the crime the idea of compassionate release is simply not justifiable.

There appears also to be some uncertainty about medical outlook. He might live for a number of years.

Prison is not a torture chamber. He will have access to all the necessary treatment. In my opinion he doesn't merit any special consideration. There was certainly a bit of a buzz around the American families when news of this release bid emerged. People were outraged and horrified. The 20th anniversary is coming up and we see a man we all consider to be a mass murderer of children, husbands, wives, grandchildren seeking to be granted freedom.

It would have been awful but what bothers me is that releasing this man, even on compassionate grounds, would give the impression that he was not guilty of anything.

I'm aware there is a great deal of chat going on, much of it frankly in the Scottish press. I'm disgusted at the way this has been treated by the media. He's in jail and I hope he stays there. I hope he dies behind bars.