“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
Showing posts with label release Lockerbie bomber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label release Lockerbie bomber. Show all posts
Oh, that's hard to believe, Barack and Hillary, you think? Of course they knew about it.
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No.10 turns on Obama and Clinton for criticising decision to release Lockerbie bomber
By SIMON WALTERS Daily Mail Last updated at 3:14 AM on 06th September 2009
Whitehall said US President Obama and Hillary Clinton's reaction to Abdelbaset Al Megrahi's release was 'disingenuous'
Downing Street has hit back at Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for attacking the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber.
President Obama and the US Secretary of State fuelled a fierce American backlash against Britain, claiming Abdelbaset Al Megrahi should have been forced to serve out his jail sentence in Scotland – but a senior Whitehall aide said their reaction was ‘disingenuous’.
British officials claim Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were kept informed at all stages of discussions concerning Megrahi’s return. The officials say the Americans spoke out because they were taken aback by the row over Megrahi’s release, not because they did not know it was about to happen.
‘The US was kept fully in touch about everything that was going on with regard to Britain’s discussions with Libya in recent years and about Megrahi,’ said the Whitehall aide.
‘We would never do anything about Lockerbie without discussing it with the US. It is disingenuous of them to act as though Megrahi’s return was out of the blue.
'They knew about our prisoner transfer agreement with Libya and they knew that the Scots were considering Megrahi’s case.’ Mr Obama said Megrahi’s release on compassionate grounds was a ‘mistake’ while Mrs Clinton phoned the Scottish administration to complain in person.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband are said to have been ‘disappointed’ by the force of Washington’s response.
American politicians claimed the Anglo-US ‘special relationship’ had been damaged ‘for years to come’ because the UK had gone back on a joint pledge that Megrahi would stay behind bars in Scotland.
Former US Justice Department official David Rivkin said it was ‘duplicitous behaviour’
Revealed: Libya paid for medical advice that helped Lockerbie bomber's release
The British, Scottish and Libyan governments connived to free Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter, Robert Mendick and Damien McElroy in Tripoli Published: 8:37PM BST 05 Sep 2009 Telegraph
Medical evidence that helped Megrahi, 57, to be released was paid for by the Libyan government, which encouraged three doctors to say he had only three months to live.
The life expectancy of Megrahi was crucial because, under Scottish rules, prisoners can be freed on compassionate grounds only if they are considered to have this amount of time, or less, to live.
Megrahi is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. Two of the three doctors commissioned by the Libyans provided the required three-month estimates, while the third also indicated that the prisoner had a short time to live.
This contrasted with findings of doctors in June and July who had concluded that Megrahi had up to 10 months to live, which would have prevented his release.
Professor Karol Sikora, one of the examining doctors and the medical director of CancerPartnersUK in London, told The Sunday Telegraph: “The figure of three months was suggested as being helpful [by the Libyans].
“To start with I said it was impossible to do that [give a three-month life expectancy estimate] but, when I looked at it, it looked as though it could be done – you could actually say that.” He said that he and a second doctor, a Libyan, had legitimately then estimated Megrahi’s life expectancy as “about three months”. A third doctor would say only that he had a short time to live.
This weekend it was reported that Megrahi was moved out of an emergency care unit in Tripoli.
The prognosis from the three doctors – two from Britain – was used as part of the evidence by Kenny MacAskill, the Scottish Justice Secretary, last month when he concluded that Megrahi should be released on compassionate grounds. Our investigation also reveals that:
Mousa Kousa, a senior Libyan politician who was expelled from Britain in 1980 for boasting of a plot to kill Libyan dissidents in London, played a key role in the talks to free Megrahi, and threatened serious consequences if the prisoner died in jail. Mr Kousa, now the Libyan foreign minister, was once implicated in planning the Lockerbie bombing – a claim he vehemently denies. According to the minutes of a meeting on Jan 22 between Libyan and Scottish officials: “Mr Kousa stated that Mr al-Megrahi’s death in Scotland would not be viewed well by the Muslims or Arabs. Nor would it be good for relations.”
The Scottish and British governments actively assisted Megrahi and his legal team to seek a release on compassionate grounds even though the thrust of talks before July this year had been over his release as part of a Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) between Britain and Libya.
Senior business sources have told The Sunday Telegraph that Britain was desperate that Megrahi should not die in jail after warnings by Libya in May that if this happened trade deals between the two countries – worth billions of pounds – would be cancelled. British businessmen were also told that plans to open a London office of the Libyan Investment Authority, a sovereign fund with $136billion (£83billion) to invest, would be jeopardised if Megrahi died in jail.
Britain provided aid for Libya, believed to be the first since the Lockerbie bombing, when the release of Megrahi was being discussed. The £146,000 grant – which senior Tories suspect was a “sweetener” to Libya – was provided by the British Embassy in 2007-08 at the behest of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The revelations come after Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, broke ranks and admitted publicly for the first time that trade and oil agreements were an essential part of the British Government’s decision to include Megrahi in the PTA with Libya. Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing of December 1988 which killed 270 people, was freed on Aug 20. His release and the jubilant scenes in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, when he returned prompted an international outcry.
Saif Gaddafi, the Libyan leader’s son, told Megrahi: “You were on the table in all commercial, oil and gas agreements that we supervised in that period. You were on the table in all British interests when it came to Libya, and I personally supervised this matter.”
After two weeks of controversy, Gordon Brown was forced to address the issue on Wednesday when he said: “There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to instruct Scottish ministers.”
However, the investigation by this newspaper – coupled with Mr Straw’s comments to The Daily Telegraph – cast doubts on the Prime Minister’s claims.
Mr Straw also said of Britain’s dealings over Megrahi’s release: “What we have done with the Libyans is seek to explain the circumstances in which compassionate release could take place.”
There were strong suggestions from Libya yesterday that it felt Britain had played a significant role in pressing for Megrahi’s release.
Abdul Majeed al-Dursi, the regime’s chief spokesman, said: “This is a brave and courageous decision by the British, which shows its understanding of Libyan culture by allowing a sick man to be at home when he dies.
“It showed the relations between Britain and Libya are strong and deep. We in Libya appreciate this and Britain will find it is rewarded.”
Douglas Carswell, the Conservative MP, said the latest disclosures were “outrageous” and left the British and Scottish governments facing tough new questions.
“This is further evidence that our Government has done a grubby deal with a nasty regime,” he said. “It is an oil-for-terrorist deal. The Government has always presented the medical advice as being totally objective, but it now turns out it was being paid for by Libya. It shows the Government in a poor light.”
Susan Cohen, 71, whose daughter Theodora, 20, died on the flight, said from her home in New Jersey: “It is highly distasteful that these doctors were paid for by the Libyans. Why didn’t the Scottish pay for the doctors?”
Mrs Cohen was also angered that Mr Kousa, the former Libyan terror chief, was involved in talks. “That anybody would deal with him shows how horrible this is,” she said.
Minutes of a meeting between Libyan and Scottish officials on July 6 disclose moves by the Scottish to encourage Megrahi’s legal team to apply for release on compassionate grounds.
Senior British and Scottish officials appear to have thought it was easier to justify Megrahi’s release on compassionate grounds to the Americans, who were promised that the only man convicted of the Libyan bombing would be exempt from the PTA. The US government had wanted Megrahi to die in jail.
It has emerged in the US that the jubilant scenes that accompanied Megrahi’s return to Tripoli last month have severely jeopardised a meeting that Col Muammar Gaddafi was trying to engineer with President Barack Obama in New York later this month.
The Libyan leader had hoped for a warm embrace from the president, proving that he was no longer an international pariah. The best he can now hope for is a fleeting exchange on the edge of a UN Security Council meeting.
additional reporting by Leonard Doyle in Washington
There is nothing wrong with devolution by delegating power to local authorities. There is also nothing wrong with compassion. Like all things in life it is a matter of balance and degree. British authorities shirked responsibility in the Megrahi disgrace by claiming that the semi-autonomous Scottish government, which can take decisions independently of London on justice matters but not foreign affairs. The idea is preposterous.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband insisted Friday that Britain had left the decision solely to Scotland. If that is so Miliband should be fired or resign for being an ass. Libya clearly recognized the political impact of the release and took full advantage including handing out Scottish flags for the hero's welcome. The only thing missing was Megrahi in a kilt.
Kadhafi himself thanked Queen Elizabeth and Gordon Brown. What bullshit is being served from London.
If a country allows an internal entity to make decisions that have external political implications it has ceded sovereignty. To suggest otherwise is false. Just as false as the absurd idea of compassion that a convicted mass murderer needs to go home because he has cancer. Megrahi is a cancer, a human tumor that should have been dead years ago.
The only person convicted for the murders of 270 people in the bombing of an airliner over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988 is free. Britain deserves scorn and shame.
Scotland defies Obama and prepares to send dying Lockerbie bomber home to Libya on Gaddafi's private jet
By NIALL FIRTH Daily Mail Last updated at 12:27 PM on 20th August 2009
Decision to be announced in Edinburgh at 1pm
Libyan airline 'collecting a special passenger' from Glasgow
Obama calls on Megrahi to be made to 'serve out his term'
Megrahi's wife says bomber is 'very happy' to come home
Blair accused of 'blood money' deal over bomber's release
Lawyer says release means Britain 'will grow' in eyes of Arabs
The Scottish Government is to defy the wrath of the U.S administration and the anger of victims' families as it prepares to release the Lockerbie bomber this afternoon.
An announcement about the fate of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi will be made in Edinburgh by the Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill at 1pm.
It is widely expected that terminally-ill Megrahi, the only person to be convicted of the December 1988 bombing, will be freed on compassionate grounds.
The 57-year-old, who is dying of prostate cancer, could be flying home to Libya on Gaddafi's own private jet by this evening.
The decision to free the terrorist will spark outrage in America and Britain where the families of those killed have been campaigning for him to remain behind bars.
And his probable release comes despite a desperate last-ditch appeal by Barack Obama yesterday to ensure that the Lockerbie bomber dies in a Scottish prison.
Megrahi's wife Aisha has said her husband still 'didn't know' when he would be freed from Glasgow's Greenock prison, but was 'very happy' at the prospect of returning to his homeland.
The convicted bomber also called his mother in Libya and told her he hoped to be with her by Ramadan.
There has been widespread fury among victims' families over Megrahi's release and the SNP can expect a huge transatlantic outcry if, as is likely, he is granted mercy today.
Yesterday, the U.S. government continued to put last-minute pressure on the Scottish Executive, with a spokesman for Mr Obama insisting Megrahi should 'serve out his term' in Scotland.
But in a thinly-veiled attack on U.S. attempts to influence the decision, First Minister Alex Salmond has insisted 'international power politics' will be ignored.
The transatlantic row comes amid further controversy over the role of former PM Tony Blair in Megrahi's release.
Mr Blair has been accused of agreeing a 'blood money' deal involving the Lockerbie bomber with Colonel Gaddafi just hours before BP unveiled a £500million oil contract.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also issued a personal plea to keep the bomber behind bars.
The former New York Senator said she knew many of the American families who lost relatives in the atrocity and that to release Megrahi would be 'absolutely wrong'.
It is understood that Megrahi will be flown back to Libya on Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's private jet if he is released following Mr MacAskill's announcement today.
Today his lawyer Saad Djebbar said that Britain would benefit from Megrahi's release.
'The SNP government has done the UK a great favour because Britain and Scotland will grow in the eyes of the Arab street,' he said.
A 'luxury aircraft' was scheduled to collect the bomber from Glasgow airport yesterday, but the flight was cancelled during protracted negotiations over Megrahi's fate, according to the Times.
Tripoli-based Afriqiyah Airways, which runs Colonel Gaddafi's personal Airbus A340, contacted Glasgow airport yesterday to report that it would be collecting 'a special passenger'.
Megrahi's wife Aisha has said her husband still 'didn't know' when he would be freed from Glasgow's Greenock prison, but was 'very happy' at the prospect of returning to his homeland.
The convicted bomber also called his mother in Libya and told her he hoped to be with her by Ramadan. Hajja Fatma, 95, told the Tripoli Post in Libya: 'I do not close the house's door at all. I am expecting him to enter at any moment.
'Eleven years I did not spend the holy month of Ramadan with him, I am waiting for that day when he comes back.'
She maintained that her son was innocent of killing 270 people in the Lockerbie bomb, saying 'he would not slaughter a chicken'.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill is expected to announce Megrahi's release today while his wife Aisha, left, has said the bomber still does not know what his fate will be
Megrahi, the former Libyan intelligence agent, who may have only weeks to live, dropped his second appeal against conviction on Tuesday - removing a legal obstacle to sending him home.
He is serving life with a minimum term of 27 years after being convicted of the attack on Pan Am flight 103, which killed 270 people.
Most of the dead were Americans heading home for Christmas.
Mrs Clinton yesterday said Megrahi's release would be 'inappropriate, and very much against the wishes of the family members of the victims who suffered such grievous losses'.
She added: 'I take this very personally because I knew a lot of the family members of those who were lost. 'I just think it is absolutely wrong to release someone who has been imprisoned based on the evidence about his involvement in such a horrendous crime.
'We are still encouraging the Scottish authorities not to do so, and hope they will not.'
Later, Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Mr Obama, added: 'It's the policy of this administration that this individual should serve out his term where he's serving it right now.'
Seven U.S. senators, including Edward Kennedy and John Kerry, have also written to Mr MacAskill urging him to keep Megrahi behind bars.
But many British families believe the Libyan was wrongly convicted while in Libya many believe that he was made a scapegoat for the bombings.
Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the bombing, yesterday criticised Mrs Clinton's comments as the 'intervention of ignorance, a voice from the previous regime'.
Mr MacAskill is considering two applications from Megrahi's lawyers - compassionate release or a transfer to a Libyan prison.
While the decision to allow Megrahi to return home will affect relationships between the British Government and the U.S, it is likely it will suit those in Westminster who are happy for the focus to remain firmly on Edinburgh.
Some ministers have expressed concern that evidence that was to be used during Megrahi's appeal, which he withdrew on Tuesday, would have cast some doubt on his conviction.
The SNP's Christine Grahame, who has met Megrahi in prison, said: 'There are vested interests who have been deeply opposed to this appeal continuing as they know it would go a considerable way towards exposing the truth.'
The SNP has always criticised the transfer agreement between the UK and Libya, which was established by former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Critics are suspicious that Mr Blair's deal was part of an attempt to develop closer relations with the former pariah state to protect Britain's oil interests.
Susan Cohen, whose only child Theodora, 20, was killed in the bombing, said: 'Tony Blair has behaved absolutely appallingly. Some people would describe it as blood money.
'He put compassion for the oil industry ahead of any compassion for my daughter, for the families of all those people killed by a convicted mass murderer and terrorist.
'It just shows that the power of oil money counts for more than justice.'
'The Libyan government paid the U.S. relatives £803million in compensation,' she said. 'Afterwards what happens? The U.S. and UK governments pay almost exactly the same amount to allow oil exploration in Libya. There are dirty deals here.'
That option would also require the Lord Advocate to drop an ongoing appeal against the leniency of Megrahi's sentence.
Last night, the Executive said in a statement: 'Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has informed families and other interested parties that he has reached his decisions on the applications for prisoner transfer and compassionate release in relation to Mr Megrahi and will announce his decisions on Thursday, August 20, 2009.
'This fulfils the Justice Secretary's pledge to inform families on both sides of the Atlantic, in advance, of the timing of his public announcement.'
Meanwhile, a cancer specialist yesterday said Megrahi's 'aggressive' form of prostate cancer is no longer responding to treatment.
Professor Karol Sikora, who visited Megrahi in prison, said: 'We believe he has only a very short period of time to live.'
An Executive spokesman said: 'We have a strong justice system in Scotland and people can be assured the Justice Secretary's decisions have been reached on the basis of clear evidence and on no other factors.'
