He was supposed to be six feet under by last November. Instead, a year after being released from prison on “compassionate” grounds, convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset Al-Megrahi is said to be living in the lap of luxury among his friends and family in Tripoli.
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The Scottish government released him after British physician Karol Sikora announced the Al-Megrahi’s advanced prostate cancer would kill him in three months. But given the doctor’s admission last month that he was paid by the Libyans to give Al-Megrahi a poor bill of health and the 58-year-old could well live (h/t Daily Mail) another decade or more, why is a terrorist responsible for the deaths of 270 people still free?
As we reported in a July 22 editorial, “BP’s terrorist,” oil company BP admitted last month it had lobbied for Al-Megrahi’s released because it feared delaying the move would jeopardize “a $900 million oil-exploration deal signed with Tripoli.”
Kudos to both counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan - who today called freeing Al-Megrahi
“unfortunate, inappropriate and wrong” (h/t AFP) - and senators Robert Menendez and Kirsten Gillibrand, who today demanded answers from Scottish and British authorities on the connection between the oil deal and Al-Megrahi’s release.
Any entity that had a hand in such misplaced compassion ought to be held accountable. And Al-Megrahi ought to be returned to prison immediately - so he can serve out the remainder of his atrocity-marred life behind bars.
