http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/no ... bie-bomber

The absolute cheek of him

Okay, hands up who didn't see this coming when he was first released.

HOW DARE HE NOT DIE, it's so inconsiderate!

*sigh*

I'm kind of reminded of Pinochet, actually. IIRC he was hiding out in the UK and whichever south american country it was he'd been being hideous to for years before they booted him out applied to UKGov for extradition. His lawyers claimed he was terminally ill and wouldn't be up to standing trial, so the extradition warrant was denied. On Margaret Thatcher's personal instruction, as I recall. He then hotfoots it to Switzerland, or somewhere that coincidentally doesn't allow for extradition, and makes a miraculous recovery. One more reason I'll be dancing a small jig when Lady T shuffles off this mortal coil.

If Megrahi makes it past Christmas, I would have no moral objections if someone sent out an SAS snatch squad to drag him over and chuck him back in jail. Whether he's actually guilty or not.

Jon

I wouldn't be surprised if he lived for years to come the whole episode stank that much

Well, let me put it this way - if you're let out of jail on parole and you break the terms of that parole, you get taken back to jail, right? Essentially, Megrahi was let out of jail on parole and the terms of his parole were - and this is a harsh way of putting it but tell me it's not true - 'you can get out of jail provided you die soon'. That's the fundamentals of it. He was let out of jail because he was dieing. If he's not dieing, shouldn't he therefore go back to jail?

Not that he will of course, because he's far beyond the reach of any sort of Scottish court and, given he he was feted on his arrival back in Libya, there's no way in hell they would ever agree to extradite him. The only way to get him back would be, as I suggest, by force.

I don't know if he was actually guilty or not. I really don't. But that's essentially irrelevant. His sentence was suspended on the grounds he was in the later stages of a terminal illness. If he isn't in the later stages of a terminal illness after all, then the grounds for suspending his sentence are invalid. He should therefore return to continue his sentence. This is a basic principle of law and has nothing to do with the merits, or lack of them, of the original case.

Jon

The psychopathic mercenaries that make up the SAS these days are already in Libya training their "special" forces, along with representatives from PSNI training Libyan police. "We" (ie Peter Mandelson's gloablisationising paymasters (ie BP)) want their oil which means the Libyans can have whatever they want to ease the deal. So pucker up and get the KY jelly out, if you haven't done so already in the course of your daily business living in the UK.

Al Megrahi was independantly assessed and was determined to be in the latter stages of a terminal disease. The fact he has lasted so long is inconvenient for the authorities involved.
As they were obviously hoping he would go home and die quickly.
You revoke parole/or a license when they have broken the terms of that parole/license not because someone has happened to be an embaressment due to living longer than you hoped.

As for whether he is innocent or not, the prosecution case has more holes than a colander, where the main witness was paid to identify Megrahi and so much evidence has been with held due to "national security" but thats a different matter.

I forgot to mention did anyone (the medai/authorities) take into to account that Megrahi's life expectancy must have been likely to increase as soon as he left prison.

Bomber's condition 'deteriorates'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8423117.stm



Dunno whether to laugh or cry at that particular display, but I do know the whole thing was such a disgrace from start to finish that I wouldn't even trust a medical report from anyone involved now, no matter what it said