Release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi or not?

[weltweit]

An aside: but after WWII the allies made the Germans put "made in Germany" on their products so that people could know and presumably boycott as required. The thing was that "made in Germany" products were soon known as better quality and people far from being repelled, they were attracted to the "made in Germany" label.

 

[STFC]

I very much liked the comment from the FBI that it "made a mockery of justice". No, this is justice. A mockery would be, oh, extraordinary renditions, Guantanamo Bay, that sort of thing.

No, seven years for 270 lives is not justice.

 

[GoneCoastal]

There were some comments from & sentiments being expressed by Americans sitting near me at the Edinburgh Tattoo on Friday night that indicated quite a bit of displeasure

 

[danny la rouge]

No, seven years for 270 lives is not justice.

That wasn't his sentence.

 

[quimcunx]

No, seven years for 270 lives is not justice.

So, what? You would have kept him alive on some sort of machine long enough to serve how many years?

 

[Fruitloop]

I wonder what the intersection of the set is between the people who sign up to that boycott Scotland website, and the 20-odd percent that have passports, or the 10% that actually leave the country?

 

[STFC]

That wasn't his sentence.

Who said it was?

 

[danny la rouge]

So, what? You would have kept him alive on some sort of machine long enough to serve how many years?

Buried in the prison and dug up when the tariff has been reached.

 

[danny la rouge]

Who said it was?

You don't get compassionate release, do you?

 

[STFC]

So, what? You would have kept him alive on some sort of machine long enough to serve how many years?

Seeing as we're not in some ropey old sci-fi film, then imprisonment until the end of his life would have sufficed.

 

[STFC]

You don't get compassionate release, do you?

Oh I get it all right. I don't agree with it in this instance though.

 

[Maidmarian]

Seeing as we're not in some ropey old sci-fi film, then imprisonment until the end of his life would have sufficed.

Sufficed for what ?

 

[STFC]

Sufficed for what ?

As punishment for his crime, of course. What else?

 

[Fruitloop]

Your lack of compassion?

 

[quimcunx]

You don't get compassionate release, do you?

It's become apparent that a lot of people don't get the whole concept of compassion - ''he didn't show the people on that plane compassion. Why should we show him any?''

Um, it's not a trade off*.






* Well it's not meant to be, depends which story you believe.

 

[Maidmarian]

As punishment for his crime, of course. What else?

Ah, vengence then.

 

[STFC]

So we should let mass murderers go free?

 

[quimcunx]

So we should let mass murderers go free?

If they are dying of cancer, yes.

At the end of the day just because they are cunts completely lacking in compassion doesn't mean we have to be.

 

[spring-peeper]

So we should let mass murderers go free?

If they were tried in Scotland, under Scottish law and they had a terminal illness that qualifies you for release, then yes.

It's all about respecting the laws of the country, no?

If the yanks are so concerned, why not have him tried in America? Why leave it to another country to exact your revenge?

 

[Maidmarian]

If they are dying of cancer, yes.

At the end of the day just because they are cunts completely lacking in compassion doesn't mean we have to be.

This ^^

 

[quimcunx]

I think they wanted to but it was negotiated that it would be in scotland.

 

[STFC]

If they were tried in Scotland, under Scottish law and they had a terminal illness that qualifies you for release, then yes.

It's all about respecting the laws of the country, no?

If the yanks are so concerned, why not have him tried in America? Why leave it to another country to exact your revenge?

I'm giving my opinion here, it's nothing to do with what the Americans want.

 

[spring-peeper]

I'm giving my opinion here, it's nothing to do with what the Americans want.

It's still about respecting the law of the land.

 

[STFC]

It's still about respecting the law of the land.

I respect it, but in this case I don't agree with it.

 

[spring-peeper]

I respect it, but in this case I don't agree with it.

I have some issues with it, as well.

 

[DRINK?]

Americans didn't seem that bothered about terrorists when the IRA were rattling collection tins....funny that

 

[tar1984]

Americans didn't seem that bothered about terrorists when the IRA were rattling collection tins....funny that

Apparently there are a lot of anti-cuba terrorists in Miami.

 

[goldenecitrone]

The Americans are going to boycott Scottish products - that is so

Not only that but they have renamed Scotch Eggs as 'Freedom for Terrorists Eggs'. That'll teach the Haggis-eating, terrorist releasing, kilty monkeys.

 

[danny la rouge]

If they are dying of cancer, yes.

At the end of the day just because they are cunts completely lacking in compassion doesn't mean we have to be.

Exactly. That he didn't show compassion to the people he murdered is one of the things that makes him a terrorist. I'd prefer we didn't behave like terrorists.

It's not as if Megrahi has been pardoned; he has gone home to die, and soon. As MacAskill said "It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die". What purpose is served by making his die in a Scottish prison? No good one.

 

[STFC]

Some interesting opinions, both pro and anti, in this Guardian eek piece:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/22/lockerbie-bomber-megrahi-release-debate

The requirements of compassion extend only, in international humanitarian law, to providing medical assistance and pain-killing drugs to treat his cancer and allowing family visits. But his crime against humanity was in law unforgiveable – that is why – such crimes have no time limits on prosecution and no provision for early release.

While we do need to punish there is something else in the human heart that should be as strong and that is mercy.

But in general terms, to err on the side of compassion is the mark of a society that one wants to live in.

But for securely convicted mass murderers, life imprisonment should mean exactly that, for all three purposes of punishment, protection of the public, and (if this ever works, which is questionable) deterrence.