Fundamental errors
During the debate, Kenny MacAskill again defended his decision to release the bomber and reject an application to return
Megrahi to Libya under a prisoner transfer deal.
He said he was required to hold his controversial meeting with Megrahi in prison while the case was being considered, and
again dismissed opposition claims that the minister had failed to seek sufficient medical advice on the condition of the
Lockerbie bomber, who has prostate cancer.
But Scottish Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said the Scottish Government must be held to account for the decision to
release Megrahi, which has split opinion at home and abroad.
“I believe we should make clear that there were fundamental errors in the management of this process and therefore the
decision to release Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds to Libya is one we cannot agree with,” said Mr Baker.
The Scottish Conservatives’ Bill Aitken said freeing Megrahi was a “mistake of international proportions” while Scottish
Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown said “considerable doubt” remained over whether Megrahi fulfilled the
criteria for compassionate release.
Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence in Scotland for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie in
December 1988.
