TIMES ONLINE: Hillary Clinton has made a last-minute attempt to intervene in the Lockerbie bomber case, warning the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill that it would be "absolutely wrong" to release him from jail.
Spurning diplomatic channels, the US Secretary of State gave a public statement to reporters in Washington saying that Abdel Baset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Libyan spy who was jailed in 2001 for blowing up Pan Am flight 103 with the loss of 270 lives, should not be released on compassionate grounds or granted a transfer to a Libyan jail but should die in prison.
The statement comes after Mrs Clinton's private phone call to Mr MacAskill last week to warn him against agreeing to either of the requests lodged by al-Megrahi, who is terminally ill with prostate cancer.
Mrs Clinton was spurred to intervene again after the High Court in Edinburgh ruled yesterday that al-Megrahi could withdraw his legal attempt to clear his name, removing one procedural hurdle to his return to his homeland.
“I just think it is absolutely wrong to release someone who has been imprisoned based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime,” said Mrs Clinton, a former Senator for New York State from where many of the Lockerbie victims were drawn.
“We are still encouraging the Scottish authorities not to do so and we hope that they will not.” >>> Jenny Booth | Wednesday, August 19, 2009
