Scotland defends release of Lockerbie bomber

Scotland's First Minister has defended his government's decision to free the Lockerbie bomber after a blistering attack from the FBI chief and insisted that US-Scottish ties would remain strong.

Robert Mueller, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had said in an unprecedented letter to the Scottish Justice Minister that releasing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmmed al-Megrahi "gave comfort to terrorists around the world" and that the decision made a "mockery of the rule of law".

But Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said he "clearly disagreed" with the FBI director.

"It is difficult for people sometimes in the US to recognise that it is a different legal system, but it is a different legal system, it is a Scottish legal system and therefore we have to follow the tenets of Scottish justice," Mr Salmond told Sky News.

His comments came as Scotland and the UK government came under more pressure over the decision.

The anger, particularly in the US, was further fuelled by the hero's welcome given to the terminally-ill Mr al-Megrahi in Tripoli, after his release on compassionate grounds from the Scottish prison of Greenock on Thursday.

He had served only eight years of a life sentence for the bombing of the Pan Am jet which killed 210 people in 1988.

A Scottish government spokesman said the decision to release Mr al-Megrahi had been reached on the basis of Scotland's "due process, clear evidence, and the recommendations from the parole board and prison governor".

But The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Ivan Lewis, the Foreign Office minister responsible for Libya, had written to the Scottish government encouraging officials to send home Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam has said that Mr al-Megrahi's release was often raised in talks with Britain over oil and gas.

But Britain's Business Secretary Peter Mandelson categorically denied that a deal had been struck with Libya to allow Mr Al-Megrahi to walk free.

"There is absolutely no question whatsoever... of a brokered deal or agreement between the Libyan government and the British government," Mr Mandelson said.

He insisted the decision to release Mr Al-Megrahi had been "entirely a matter" for the semi-autonomous Scottish government, which can take decisions independently of London on justice matters but not foreign affairs.

Mr Mandelson said that to suggest any agreement had been struck over Mr Al-Megrahi, the only person convicted for the murders of 270 people in the bombing of an airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, was "offensive".

However, even Scotland's former First Minister Jack McConnell criticised the decision, calling it a "grave error of judgment".

"The way in which the decision has been made and the decision itself have damaged the reputation of the Scottish justice system," McConnell told the BBC, adding that, more significantly, it also damaged the reputation of Scotland internationally.

MrMcConnell is a member of the Labour party, whose administration preceded the current one formed by the pro-independence Scottish National Party.

Malta got embroiled in the atrocity because the main premise which secured the conviction of Mr al-Megrahi was that the bomb left from here, making its first journey to reach the luggage hold of the Pan Am jumbo jet through Malta International Airport.

The government has consistently held that this is not the case and hopes were high that fresh evidence to be presented in an appeal by Mr al-Megrahi would exonerate him and put paid to the Malta connection.

But Mr al-Megrahi dropped his appeal before he was granted compassionate release.

Scottish relatives of the victims from the 1988 atrocity and a former Scottish Judge, Robert Black, who believe Mr al-Megrahi is innocent, have urged Maltese authorities to call for an inquiry.

However, when asked about this, the government yesterday said it had nothing more to add to previous statements for the time being.