Doctor: 'Dying' Lockerbie bomber may live 10 years

[jamesrage]

I wonder if the victims families feel like the British government just took a big **** right in their mouths by allowing Scotland to free a terrorist due to some retarded idiotic notion of letting some scumbag out of prison due to compassionate grounds. There is such a thing as misplaced compassion and this is an example of it. Misplaced compassion just makes compassion synonymous with stupidity.

Doctor: Lockerbie bomber may live 10 years - World news - Europe - msnbc.com
LONDON — A doctor who said the man convicted of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 had only three months to live now says the Libyan could survive another 10 years, London's Sunday Times reported.

Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of 270 counts of murder for being behind the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, was released on compassionate grounds in 2009, after doctors said he only had a few months to live.

Specialist Karol Sikora told the newspaper it was "embarrassing" that al-Megrahi, who has prostate cancer and received a hero's welcome upon his return to Libya, had managed to outlive the prognosis.

The report is sure to re-ignite accusations that Scottish authorities bowed to pressure from Libya and the British government to release al-Megrahi, who American officials accuse of being an officer of the Libyan intelligence service.

 

[jujuman13]

The British were conned.

 

[Glinda]

The British were conned.

The British were wimps. If anybody ever deserved the death penalty, that piece of **** did.

And now this... :2no4:

 

[PeteEU]

The man was most likely innocent any ways.

 

[ludahai]

The man was most likely innocent any ways.

Then reopen the case, don't let him go on false pretenses...

 

[PeteEU]

Then reopen the case, don't let him go on false pretenses...

I agree, but there was... lets say... motivation for this to happen. By reopening the case, certain agencies and people would be exposed as fools and opened up to massive lawsuits and I bet they wanted to avoid that.. this includes the FBI. It is basically choosing between scandals.

 

[ludahai]

I agree, but there was... lets say... motivation for this to happen. By reopening the case, certain agencies and people would be exposed as fools and opened up to massive lawsuits and I bet they wanted to avoid that.. this includes the FBI. It is basically choosing between scandals.

So, another example of cowardly Europeans at work, here. He was convicted. Let him rot in jail...

 

[PeteEU]

So, another example of cowardly Europeans at work, here. He was convicted. Let him rot in jail...

Actually I suspect it was done to protect the FBI and CIA, since they are the ones who collected some of the key evidence against him, and that evidence has been debunked almost fully after the fact. And the UK aint all of Europe, so please dont say it in that way.

 

[mac]

I still have a hard time believing a man convicted of killing 270 people was released.

 

[PeteEU]

I still have a hard time believing a man convicted of killing 270 people was released.

I am still baffled that he was convicted in the first place. The amount of political pressure from Downing Street and Washington on the judges to convict was huge according to reports and the evidence was tainted big time.

 

[ludahai]

I am still baffled that he was convicted in the first place. The amount of political pressure from Downing Street and Washington on the judges to convict was huge according to reports and the evidence was tainted big time.

But he WAS convicted and I believe that legal procedures are generally better in the UK than in much of the world. I do not see a compelling reason to let this guy go on any grounds short of a judicial re-examination of the case...

 

[PeteEU]

But he WAS convicted and I believe that legal procedures are generally better in the UK than in much of the world. I do not see a compelling reason to let this guy go on any grounds short of a judicial re-examination of the case...

They only let him go because he dropped the appeal... that pretty much sums up the injustice in this case.

Like it or not legal procedures can be manipulated and evidence can be manipulated and in this case there is more than enough evidence that both were and the UK government with US backing wanted to avoid the embarrassment of getting this all exposed. As it stands now it is just legal opinions by experts and analysis of the evidence from the outside. If it had gone to appeal and gotten into court, then all the dirt would become a matter of public record and it could seriously hurt the credibility of the UK and US justice systems.

 

[Apocalypse]

Pete, a convicted man is not innocent unless proven in court.
Just like an innocent man is not guilty unless convicted in court.
You cannot just declare him innocent, if he was innocent the case should have been reopened, right now they've let a convicted man, and one who was convicted with the murder of scores of people, go free under the claim that he doesn't have much time left, and now it appears he'll live on for 10 freaking years.
That's simply disgusting.

 

[PeteEU]

You cannot just declare him innocent, if he was innocent the case should have been reopened, right now they've let a convicted man, and one who was convicted with the murder of scores of people, go free under the claim that he doesn't have much time left, and now it appears he'll live on for 10 freaking years.

I am not declaring him innocent. I am saying he most likely is innocent based on the evidence or lack of evidence against him. As for the case being reopened, the governments involved were blocking a reopening at every level and only agreed to free him if he gave up the appeal process. That smells like something is really wrong with the original trial, because why else would they block any reopening or appeal?

And consider that the Scottish Criminal Case Review Commission said there was a suspected miscarriage of justice in this case..

That's simply disgusting.

What is disgusting is that people willing will allow a possible innocent man to rot in jail just to feel "like we got someone" for the crime. I want justice for the dead at Lockerbie, but not at the cost of putting innocents behind bars.

 

[ludahai]

What is disgusting is that people willing will allow a possible innocent man to rot in jail just to feel "like we got someone" for the crime. I want justice for the dead at Lockerbie, but not at the cost of putting innocents behind bars.

Possible?!?!? Well, let's find out with the best certainty we can before releasing him on false pretenses. I am not against his release PROVIDING it is to be done with proper judicial and legal procedures. This was NOT done in this case...

 

[PeteEU]

Possible?!?!? Well, let's find out with the best certainty we can before releasing him on false pretenses. I am not against his release PROVIDING it is to be done with proper judicial and legal procedures. This was NOT done in this case...

How? the governments involved blocked any and all attempts to reopen the case or examine the case. The only reason that he was released was if he did not go through his delayed appeal.. delayed by the governments involved.

And lets not forget his release on humanitarian grounds had nothing to do with the case or any appeal but it was made as a condition to the UK government accepting the release... wonder why...

Even to this day the governments involved are fighting to keep evidence secret lol .. why?

And both the UN observer and the Scottish review system claimed there was a possible miscarriage of justice in the case and yet the governments involved and the legal system did everything to delay any investigation or appeal.. why?

And we have not even looked at the evidence or witnesses in the case or how the case was prosecuted.

 

[alexa]

I was very irritated that they chose to release this in this way. He has stopped responding to chemotherapy and while he might live ten years as you can never tell in these cases, it is more likely to be a matter of weeks or a few months,

When someone is terminally ill with cancer you cannot give an exact date when they will die. Some manage to live a few years, some only a few days.

For the rest, skimming, Pete EU seems to have given an accurate account of the case.

 

[mac]

I am still baffled that he was convicted in the first place. The amount of political pressure from Downing Street and Washington on the judges to convict was huge according to reports and the evidence was tainted big time.

Perhaps, but you hold a retrial, not just let him walk.

 

[mac]

How? the governments involved blocked any and all attempts to reopen the case or examine the case. The only reason that he was released was if he did not go through his delayed appeal.. delayed by the governments involved.

And lets not forget his release on humanitarian grounds had nothing to do with the case or any appeal but it was made as a condition to the UK government accepting the release... wonder why...

Even to this day the governments involved are fighting to keep evidence secret lol .. why?

And both the UN observer and the Scottish review system claimed there was a possible miscarriage of justice in the case and yet the governments involved and the legal system did everything to delay any investigation or appeal.. why?

And we have not even looked at the evidence or witnesses in the case or how the case was prosecuted.

The US government tried to block his release, how does that fit into your conspiracy theory?

 

[PeteEU]

The US government tried to block his release, how does that fit into your conspiracy theory?

Officially they did yes.... but we both know there is the official version and the non official version. And this is no conspiracy theory by any means. If you bothered to look at the case and the evidence you too would be.. wtf! I want the people behind this attack brought to justice, but I seriously have my doubts about this case and that is based on all the issues that have come out during and after the trial, from many different independent sources.

 

[PeteEU]

Perhaps, but you hold a retrial, not just let him walk.

And when a retrial is being blocked and delayed for a decade? Then what?

 

[Apocalypse]

I am not declaring him innocent. I am saying he most likely is innocent based on the evidence or lack of evidence against him.

So you believe, you're not a judge and a judge has never came to this decision.

What is disgusting is that people willing will allow a possible innocent man to rot in jail just to feel "like we got someone" for the crime.

Listen to yourself, you're promoting the unconditional release of a "possible innocent", where the hell is the logic behind that?

 

[Apocalypse]

Officially they did yes.... but we both know there is the official version and the non official version.

I don't think mac shares the conspiracy theorist gene, Pete.

 

[alexa]

The last time this case came up I managed to find some reports which indicated pretty well why it was unlikely that this man was the bomber and how indeed he was released on condition he withdrew his appeal.

Many reason have been given for his release including our desire for oil from Libya.

However the chances that this man was innocent are very strong.

THE father of a Lockerbie bombing victim made an astonishing £500,000 offer to help free the Libyan accused of his daughter's murder.
Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora died in the December 1988 atrocity, offered part of his compensation cash to lawyers trying to prove the innocence of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, currently serving life in Greenock Prison.

Swire last night to told Scotland on Sunday he had unwittingly contributed to a miscarriage of justice by helping to persuade Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi that Megrahi would receive a fair trial under the Scottish legal system.

Swire offered cash help to al-Megrahi - Scotland on Sunday

I would agree that a proper appeal would be in order but given that the man is dying, and that he is whatever time he takes to achieve it, it seems right he has been released. If a miscarriage of justice has happened he already lost several years of his life to it.

Hopefully in time truth proper will come out.

 

[PeteEU]

So you believe, you're not a judge and a judge has never came to this decision.

Listen to yourself, you're promoting the unconditional release of a "possible innocent", where the hell is the logic behind that?

Yes, if there is major doubt on a persons conviction and guilt then I do believe that said person should be freed while there is a new trial and investigation. I would rather have 10 guilty people go free than throw one innocent person behind bars.. That USE to be a principle that the US lived by .. but guess not any more.