Lockerbie Victim's Father Defends 'Christian' Scotland After Release
"My country, Scotland, is Christian and I believe that the Scottish Justice Secretary Mr Kenny MacAskill's decision to release the Lockerbie bomber chimed with the Christian principle of attempting to extend love and mercy, even to one's presumed enemies," Dr Jim Swire was quoted as saying in the Scottish daily newspaper, The Herald on 25 August.
The medical practitioner's daughter, Flora Swire, was one of the passengers aboard the doomed Pan Am flight 103 on 21 December 1988.
Abdelbaset Ali al Megrah Megrahi was the only person convicted for the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people in the air and on the ground, in the Scottish town of Lockerbie. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2001. The Rev. David Fergusson, an ordained minister in the Church of Scotland and a professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh, told Ecumenical News International, "I have no argument about compassion, but I do think that the way the government of Scotland handled this could have been better." He added, "Many people believe that the manner in which it was done gave the impression of an acquittal rather than a release. It might have been the wrong course of action but was obviously a very tight call for the minister [of justice]. The tumultuous reception he received in Libya should have been anticipated."
http://allafrica.com/stories/200909010917.html
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