Justice Committee criticises handling of Megrahi release
5 Feb 10
SNP dissent as majority say MacAskill should have sought second medical opinion
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill should have sought a second medical opinion before deciding to release convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds, Holyrood's Justice Committee said in a report published yesterday.
The release decision, announced last August, created a storm of controversy and was made on the basis that Mr Megrahi, suffering from terminal prostate cancer, had less than three months to live. However he continues to survive and be cared for in his native Libya, where he returned immediately following his release.
In its report the committee also concludes that Mr MacAskill was wrong to visit Mr Megrahi in Greenock Prison before his decision. Despite the Justice Secretary's explanation that he felt obliged to do so, the committee considered "that such an issue need never have arisen if the matter had been considered on the basis of written representations in the normal way".
Further, while acknowledging that there were significant resource and security implications attached to any compassionate release to an address in Scotland, it found that "much greater consideration" should have been given to such release.
Still unclear
The committee recognises that "this was an extremely difficult and challenging decision and put the Cabinet Secretary in an unenviable position", and that the decision was taken in good faith. It acknowledges the "extremely helpful" publication of the background documents by the Scottish Government, which it said had given both the committee and the general public a much clearer idea of the course of events leading up to the decision and the considerations relevant to it.
However it reported that "Despite the Cabinet Secretary’s statement and his oral evidence, the committee remains unclear as to the criteria which the Cabinet Secretary considered" – including whether Mr MacAskill considered that he was obliged to weigh the seriousness of the crime and sentence as part of his decision.
The committee concluded that the uncertain status of the Scottish Prison Service guidance was unsatisfactory and recommended that ministers "should review the content and status of the guidance and make it clear for future cases what authority such guidance has, and hence the extent to which the criteria it sets out are binding on those advising the Cabinet Secretary and on the Cabinet Secretary himself".
"Stitch-up"
That was the one matter on which the MSPs were unanimous, as the SNP members dissented from the criticisms of Mr MacAskill, accusing the other parties of a "stitch-up". Stewart Maxwell of the SNP said the opposition had made their minds up before the inquiry and had called no witnesses except Mr MacAskill and his officials.
Committee convener Bill Aitken MSP (Conservative) said, however: "I believe this is a useful report that sets out fairly the arguments on all the main issues that arose in the inquiry.
"It will now be for all MSPs and others with an interest in this issue to read the report and make up their own minds.”
Click here to view the committee's report.