Morning:
8°c
The decision by the Scottish administration to free the convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, is both controversial and interesting.
It raises questions about the basis of our public moral decisions and Britain's wider economic interests. Oil and Christianity are two alternative explanations for Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to release a man convicted of killing 270 people. Both may have played a part, though in justice to Mr MacAskill, the Christian virtue of compassion plainly influenced his approach to the issue.
There is, moreover, the serious question of whether Mr al-Megrahi did actually commit the crime for which he was imprisoned in 2001. Since the bombing in 1988 there have been doubts about whether the plane was interfered with at Heathrow rather than in Malta. Those doubts have stubbornly persisted and Mr al‑Megrahi has consistently claimed to be innocent, though he dropped the appeal against his conviction. It is a matter for intense regret that, at the time, the alternative explanations for this calculated mass murder were not more fully explored. Now it is probably too late.
But as matters stand, Mr al-Megrahi is a convicted murderer and the question is, was it right to release him eight years into his life sentence on the basis that his terminal prostate cancer means he may well have only months to live? As Mr MacAskill said, he will soon be judged by a higher authority: God. That judgment awaits him whether he dies in Scotland or in Libya. There are many cases where prisoners are released to die at home.
Plainly the groundwork for the decision by the Scottish executive was made by the British Government, though the Foreign Secretary has denied any part in it; Mr MacAskill simply had the final say. It would have been odd if the Government did not acknowledge in preparing its case that Britain has a real commercial interest in a better relationship with Libya. BP is involved in the country.
If we are to be concerned with British interests, the reality is that Britain sets far more store by its historic friendship with the US than by its interests in Libya. The decision for release was taken in defiance of Hillary Clinton's call for him to serve his sentence in Scotland.
In a case of this sensitivity — and the bombing was, before 9/11 the biggest terrorist attack on US citizens — we should have had more concern for the sentiments of our closest ally. If it comes to a choice between the US and Libya, it is no choice at all. The decision to free Mr al-Megrahi, let alone the unedifying celebrations in Tripoli, has offended the Obama administration and hurt relatives of the victims. It was unwise.
Dangerous DNA database
Diane Abbott, the Labour Hackney MP, is to hold a series of clinics with lawyers from the pressure group, Liberty, to help constituents who want to have their DNA details removed from the national database. At present, the genetic details of anyone arrested are kept on file, even if they are not convicted. Now the Tory shadow minister Damian Green arrested after a Commons leak, has managed to have his details removed from the database. If he can do that, so, too, can ordinary people who have not been convicted of an offence.Undoubtedly, the DNA database has been invaluable in both bringing the guilty to justice and freeing the innocent but it is too indiscriminate: it includes the details even of children as young as 10. In Scotland, only the DNA of people arrested in connection with serious violent and sexual offences are kept on the record, for just five years. That is the direction in which we should go.
The wilting wall
An exciting “living wall” in Islington, which cost £100,000, has unfortunately wilted: the complex watering system broke down. It would be a pity if other councils did not try this approach to greening urban spaces. The great thing is to remember to water them.
