Dying Lockerbie Bomber Released — Families of Victims Lose Out

ABC's Nick Watt reports on the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the man serving a life sentence for the murder of 270 people in the Pan Am plane explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland back in 1988.  Megrahi is dying of cancer and was allowed out of prison to spend his final days with his family in Libya.  He was released on grounds of compassion on the part of the Scottish Justice Secretary:Sadly it's the families of the victims who have ALL lost out this week. They all lose out — the ones who wanted Megrahi to die in jail, as well as those who wanted him released.The majority of American families wanted Megrahi to die in jail. The majority of British families wanted him released, because they don't believe he is guilty. However, those British families wanted Megrahi's second appeal to go to court: Another chance for the "true" facts to out. (They believe Iran commissioned a Palestinian terror group to carry out the attack). Megrahi could have been granted compassionate release and the appeal could have continued. However, he dropped his appeal this week to give himself the best chance of going home. If the compassionate release appeal had been turned down, Megrahi could still have been released under the British/Libyan prisoner release program. But you can't be released under that program if you have an appeal pending. So he dropped his appeal.Ultimately, Megrahi was released on compassionate grounds.Today Scotland's Justice Minister did throw the Americans a bone. He said he declined the prisoner release application because of an apparent agreement (to which he says he is not privy) between the British and American governments, which stated that anyone convicted of the Lockerbie bombing would serve their term in a Scottish jail.  Basically he's saying he heard the American's objections to a prisoner transfer and agrees with them on that point.  (The Minister pointed out that the Scottish government did not exist at the time of the bombing — it was formed in 1998 and behaves a bit like a state legislature in the US).The Justice Minister was meticulous today in detailing the legal consideration that got him to his decision. However, as has been reported, the grounds for compassionate release are not black and white. The "general guideline" in the prison service is that if a prisoner is believed to be within 3 months of death then they are eligible for compassionate release.