AFP
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FBI Director Robert Mueller listens during a news conference at the Justice Department in June 2009 in …
by Imed Lamloum Imed Lamloum – 8 mins ago
TRIPOLI (AFP) – Libya feted freed Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi on Saturday, ignoring Western fury at his hero's welcome, and poured oil on the fire by accusing Britain of seeking commercial advantage.
Libyan newspapers carried front-page photographs of the homecoming of Megrahi, the only person convicted of involvement in the deadly 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
State-owned daily Al-Shams hailed "the victorious return of the hero" who was freed on compassionate grounds by Scottish authorities on Thursday in the face of terminal prostate cancer.
"The freed hostage has returned to his homeland and his family ... after 20 years of suffering, half as an accused person and half as someone unfairly convicted of a crime he did not commit," the paper said.
At Megrahi's home in the upmarket Damascus neighbourhood of Tripoli, the man's family was receiving well-wishers on Saturday in a lavish tent set up outside.
Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, who met Megrahi late on Friday, praised Scottish authorities for their "courage" in authorising his release in the face of virulent opposition from the US government.
Television showed images of him embracing the convicted bomber.
Robert Mueller, director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, sent a letter to Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill saying he was "outraged at the decision, blithely defended on the grounds of 'compassion.'"
Mueller, who in 1991 was assistant attorney general in charge of the investigation of Megrahi, wrote in the letter date Friday that the decision to free Megrahi "gives comfort to terrorists."
A Scottish government spokesman said the decision was reached following proper procedures and that Megrahi would die a convicted man.
"Compassionate release is not part of the US justice system but it is part of Scotland's," he added.
"Mr MacAskill could not have consulted more widely. He spoke with the US families, the US attorney general, Secretary of State (Hillary) Clinton and many others."
Meanwhile,
Kadhafi's second son, Seif al-Islam, drew Britain's ire by charging that London had long offered to review Megrahi's incarceration in return for lucrative trade deals.he added in the interview with Libya's Al-Mutawassit television channel taped on the return flight and aired on Friday.
"In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (Megrahi) was always on the negotiating table," said Islam, whose Kadhafi Foundation financed Megrahi's legal defence and who travelled to Scotland to accompany him home.
"All British interests were linked to the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,"
But Kadhafi Foundation director general Yussef Sawan said on Saturday the decision to free Megrahi "was an independent decision taken by the Scottish government with total objectivity ... and solely on humanitarian grounds."
"We do not think there is any way of concluding that the decision by the Scottish authorities was taken for any other reason than a humanitarian one," he told AFP.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street office firmly denied that the release was linked to Britain's interest in Libyan oil and gas reserves, the largest in Africa.
"There is no deal," he told AFP.
"The position remains the same as we have been making clear: this has always been a matter for the Scottish executive and ministers."
Speculation that there had been some form of deal was fuelled by disclosure that British Business Secretary Lord Mandelson had met Seif al-Islam during his recent holiday on the Greek island of Corfu.
Mandelson acknowledged that he had twice met the man and that the issue of Megrahi's release had been raised, but he described talk of a deal as "offensive."
"They had the same response from me as they would have had from any other member of the government -- the issue of the prisoner's release was entirely a matter for the Scottish justice minister," he said.
The father of one of the British Lockerbie bombing victims said he was still seeking the truth behind the terror attack.
Jim Swire, 73, whose 23-year-old daughter Flora was among the 270 people killed, applauded the release of Megrahi, saying he believes him to be innocent.
"I am a Christian, so I would hope that, even if I was convinced that Megrahi was guilty, my Christian compassion and forgiveness would extend to wanting to see him die with his family around him in Libya," he told The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Megrahi, who has always maintained his innocence, told The Times newspaper that he will present new evidence through his Scottish lawyers that will exonerate him.
"My message to the British and Scottish communities is that I will put out the evidence and ask them to be the jury," he said, declining to elaborate.
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The full letter from the FBI Director on the Lockerbie bomber release
The full letter from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, to Scottish Minister Kenny MacAskill regarding the release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi.
Published: 5:24PM BST 22 Aug 2009
Dear Mr. Secretary:
Over the years I have been a prosecutor, and recently as the Director of the FBI, I have made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors, since only the prosecutor handling the case has all the facts and the law before him in reaching the appropriate decision.
Your decision to release Megrahi causes me to abandon that practice in this case. I do so because I am familiar with the facts, and the law, having been the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991. And I do so because I am outraged at your decision, blithely(# Carefree and lighthearted.) defended on the grounds of "compassion."
Your action in releasing Megrahi is as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation, the conviction by jury after the defendant is given all due process, and sentence appropriate to the crime, the terrorist will be freed by one man's exercise of "compassion." Your action rewards a terrorist even though he never admitted to his role in this act of mass murder and even though neither he nor the government of Libya ever disclosed the names and roles of others who were responsible.
Your action makes a mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy: the medical personnel who first faced the horror of 270 bodies strewn in the fields around Lockerbie, and in the town of Lockerbie itself; the hundreds of volunteers who walked the fields of Lockerbie to retrieve any piece of debris related to the breakup of the plane; the hundreds of FBI agents and Scottish police who undertook an unprecedented global investigation to identify those responsible; the prosecutors who worked for years--in some cases a full career--to see justice done.
But most importantly, your action makes a mockery of the grief of the families who lost their own on December 21, 1988. You could not have spent much time with the families, certainly not as much time as others involved in the investigation and prosecution. You could not have visited the small wooden warehouse where the personal items of those who perished were gathered for identification--the single sneaker belonging to a teenager; the Syracuse sweatshirt never again to be worn by a college student returning home for the holidays; the toys in a suitcase of a businessman looking forward to spending Christmas with his wife and children.
You apparently made this decision without regard to the views of your partners in the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the Lockerbie tragedy. Although the FBI and Scottish police, and prosecutors in both countries, worked exceptionally closely to hold those responsible accountable, you never once sought our opinion, preferring to keep your own counsel and hiding behind opaque references to "the need for compassion."
You have given the family members of those who died continued grief and frustration. You have given those who sought to assure that the persons responsible would be held accountable the back of your hand. You have given Megrahi a "jubilant welcome" in Tripoli, according to the reporting. Where, I ask, is the justice?
Sincerely yours,
Robert S. Mueller, III
Director
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