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Salmond defends move to free bomber
23 Aug 2009- Cameron urges voters to keep Union
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Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has defended the decision to free the Lockerbie bomber as the right decision for the right reasons.
He spoke out after an unprecedented attack by FBI director Robert Mueller who said he was "outraged" at the release of Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi.
In a highly critical letter to Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, Mr Mueller said the decision, taken on compassionate grounds, made a mockery of the law and gave comfort to terrorists.
Former Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell also criticised the decision, saying it was a "grave error of judgment" which had damaged the reputation of Scotland.
But Mr Salmond told BBC Radio 4: "No one I think seriously believes we made any other decision except for the right reasons. I think it was the right decision. I also absolutely know it was for the right reasons."
Mr Salmond insisted the decisions were made to the letter of Scots law. He said there had been wide consultation with American families and politicians, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Mr Salmond said: "I understand the huge and strongly held views of the American families but that's not all the families who were affected by Lockerbie.
"As you're well aware, a number of the families, particularly in the UK, take a different view and think that we made the right decision. I would never criticise anybody in terms of who comes forward from the affected families. I don't think Rob Mueller's correct in believing that all the families have the same opinion - clearly that's not the case."
Mr Salmond said his Justice Secretary had not invited the two applications, one for prisoner transfer and one for compassionate release.
He continued: "An important point is that Robert Mueller, who is I'm sure extraordinarily distinguished in all sorts of things, but that aspect - particularly of compassionate release - is not part of the United States judicial system." He insisted the relationship between the US and Scotland is "strong and enduring".
