It has taken me a while to compose this post, it is an issue I was discussing a few days ago and to formulate my opinion took a lot of deliberating. I did not want jump in at the heat of the moment with a gut feeling, with such a subject I felt considerable thought was needed.
The date in the title refers to the subject I am going to discuss. The release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi the man convicted in 2001 of the Lockerbie bombing.
To start I wish to define a couple of elements surrounding the UK law in reference to life sentences.
A definition of a life sentence is:
Life imprisonment or life incarceration is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime, often for most or even all of the criminal’s remaining life, but in fact for a period which varies between jurisdictions: many countries have a maximum possible period of time The average sentence in the United Kingdom is about 15 years before the first parole hearing, although those convicted of exceptionally grave crimes remain behind bars for considerably longer.
Wikipedia
As the definition of of a life sentence says “often for most or even all of the criminal’s remaining life” however some countries do offer early paroles. Megrahi was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommendation that he should serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole. However after only 8 years he has been released on compassionate grounds. He has been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and given 3 months to live. For this reason Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny McAskill offered Megrahi early parole.
So let me get this straight, this man was convicted of taking 270 lives in cold pre meditate murder, he was put in jail on a life sentence with a recommendation of serving at least 20 years before parole was available and after only 8 years he gets let out. Ok he has cancer but that is not a reason, in my opinion, to let him out. He murdered these people, he stopped them from from ever seeing or being seen by their families again. He took people in the prime of their lives and erased them with no qualms at all. He at no point has shown remorse for what he has done, this was emphasised by Mr McAskill in a statement he made.
“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,” he said.
“But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.”
BBC
Why not???? If he shows no remorse for what he did then why should we let him return to his family to die, none of his victims were given the opportunity to do such a thing.
For me this decision is a big mistake by the Scottish Government and one that will be talked about for a long time.
I know I do not usually do personal or political posts but I felt compelled to write this one.
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