|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
|
 Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 7:07 pm Post subject: Lockerbie bomber released |
 |
|
Outrage at Lockerbie Bomber's Release
| Quote: |
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was in a Scottish prison for his role in the bombing, was freed today on grounds of "compassion" for his terminal cancer.
|
This is what happens when politicians interfere in the courts.
I think we can ALL agree this is wrong. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:12 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Compassion?
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Sergio Stefanuto
Joined: 14 May 2009
Location: UK
|
| Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Yet another sad, sad day to be British |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cheonmunka
Joined: 04 Jun 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Don't worry, he'll be dead within three months apparently. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RJjr
Joined: 17 Aug 2006
Location: Turning on a Lamp
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 12:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
| None of it makes any sense. Apparently many of the relatives of the victims think he was just a fall guy, but now that he's been convicted on over two hundred counts of murder, it seems silly to release him. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
SeoulFinn
Joined: 27 Feb 2006
Location: 1h from Seoul
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
| For the likes of him a "real" life sentence isn't inhumane. I don't see any reason to show this man even a shred of compassion -- he should die in prison and be buried within it after he draws his last breath. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Interested
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:51 am Post subject: Re: Lockerbie bomber released |
|
|
| Kuros wrote: |
Outrage at Lockerbie Bomber's Release
| Quote: |
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was in a Scottish prison for his role in the bombing, was freed today on grounds of "compassion" for his terminal cancer.
|
This is what happens when politicians interfere in the courts.
I think we can ALL agree this is wrong. |
Then you think wrong. Until I am satisfied that he is indeed guilty, I can not agree that this is wrong. There is too much doubt about his guilt, and has been for a long time. I recall relatives of the Lockerbie victims complaining publically at the time of his conviction that true justice had not been done, and that the conviction was a farce. Naturally they wanted the real culprits put away, but felt he some sort of fall guy.
Even the Daily Mail (hardly a leftwing paper) has pointed out that he may be innocent.
Jailed for life - but is this man really guilty of killing 270?
| Quote: |
The seemingly imminent release of Abdelbaset Al Megrahi has highlighted growing doubts over whether the ex-Libyan intelligence officer was guilty. For the 57-year-old was convicted of the murder of 270 people by Scottish judges sitting at a court in the Netherlands on circumstantial evidence.
A second appeal is pending - which can still go ahead if he is returned to Libya on compassionate grounds.
Even a number of the families of the British victims believe that Megrahi, who has always maintained his innocence, is not responsible and his conviction should be quashed.
Dr Hans Kochler, a UN observer at the original trial, suggests that a 'spectacular miscarriage of justice' took place and has questioned the role of intelligence services during the trial.
Megrahi, who had used a false passport and name to enter Malta, was convicted after the prosecution argued he had placed the bomb, hidden in a suitcase, on a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, Germany.
The bomb was then transferred on to the Pan Am plane that went to Heathrow en route to New York, prosecutors said.
Crucially, lawyers say, there is now evidence that two key witnesses were either paid or offered millions of dollars and that the credibility of forensic experts is open to question.
They will focus on the evidence of Maltese shopkeeper Tony Gauci, a key prosecution witness, who claimed he had sold clothes to Megrahi which were later found scattered over the crash site and had been in the suitcase containing the device.
However, it has emerged that Gauci had seen a picture of the Libyan in a magazine linking him to the bombing, a fact which could have distorted his judgment. The headline on the article asked: 'Who planted the bomb?'
Megrahi's lawyers claim Gauci was interviewed 17 times and gave a string of inconsistent statements, putting the vital identification in grave doubt.
Lawyers at an appeal will dispute whether Megrahi ever bought the clothes.
The CIA is said to have offered Gauci and his brother Paul more than �1million and a place in a witness protection programme - an offer not disclosed at trial.
The Libyan's legal team will also focus on a circuit board fragment which was identified as part of an electronic timer similar to that found on a Libyan intelligence agent who had been arrested ten months previously, carrying materials for a Semtex bomb.
The timer was allegedly traced through its manufacturer to the Libyan military and an employee identified the fragment at Megrahi's trial.
The company's owner later claimed he had declined an offer from the FBI of several million dollars to say that the timer fragment was part of a timer specifically supplied to Libya.
Two years ago the employee who gave evidence at the trial gave a sworn affidavit in which he admitted he had lied. He said he had stolen a timing device of the type referred to at the trial in June 1989 and given it to an 'official person investigating the Lockerbie case'. |
| Quote: |
After conducting an exhaustive three-year review of the case, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission reported in June 2007 there may have been a miscarriage of justice in Megrahi's case.
|
Last edited by Interested on Fri Aug 21, 2009 2:15 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Stones1962
Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Location: Europe/Asia
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 2:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
It hasn't been proven that he is responsible....
Let him go and spend his last days with his family.... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:09 am Post subject: Re: Lockerbie bomber released |
|
|
| Interested wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
Outrage at Lockerbie Bomber's Release
| Quote: |
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was in a Scottish prison for his role in the bombing, was freed today on grounds of "compassion" for his terminal cancer.
|
This is what happens when politicians interfere in the courts.
I think we can ALL agree this is wrong. |
Then you think wrong. Until I am satisfied that he is indeed guilty, I can not agree that this is wrong. |
It doesn't really matter. He was convicted in a court of law. Until he gets a proper appeal, intervention from a political body outside of obtaining him a proper appeal is inappropriate. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 10:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Lawyers and their territoriality... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 4:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
American and British leaders and people, generally, would do well to take this as yet another indication that their "compassion," and hand-wringing is neither appreciated nor reciprocated abroad.
It remains a harsh world.
| Quote: |
WASHINGTON -- The cheering, flag-waving welcome that the convicted Lockerbie bomber received in Libya after being released from a life sentence was "highly objectionable," President Barack Obama said Friday.
His spokesman, Robert Gibbs, also criticized the bomber's reception as "tremendously offensive," echoing a sense of outrage that senior British leaders also have expressed...
"The images that we saw in Libya yesterday were outrageous and disgusting" and are "tremendously offensive to the survivors that lost a loved one," Gibbs said.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was "deeply distressing" and "deeply upsetting" to watch video of the convict's return home.
"Obviously, the sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing," Miliband told BBC radio Friday morning. He added that personally, "I find it deeply distressing of course, as well."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had specifically asked Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi not to give al Megrahi a celebratory welcome, Brown's office at 10 Downing Street said... |
CNN Reports |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Interested
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:03 pm Post subject: Re: Lockerbie bomber released |
|
|
| Kuros wrote: |
| Interested wrote: |
| Kuros wrote: |
Outrage at Lockerbie Bomber's Release
| Quote: |
Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who was in a Scottish prison for his role in the bombing, was freed today on grounds of "compassion" for his terminal cancer.
|
This is what happens when politicians interfere in the courts.
I think we can ALL agree this is wrong. |
Then you think wrong. Until I am satisfied that he is indeed guilty, I can not agree that this is wrong. |
It doesn't really matter. He was convicted in a court of law. Until he gets a proper appeal, intervention from a political body outside of obtaining him a proper appeal is inappropriate. |
Ah, so it doesn't matter that he is at the end of his life, possibly quite innocent of the crime, with no hope of living long enough to see the slow heavy machinary of the law resolve this matter anytime before he dies? And his children and aged mother should be punished too, for the principle of adhering to legal bureacray?
Even if he was guilty, this decision is fair. It is common in the UK for prisoners to be released in order to spend the last weeks of their lives surrounded by family. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Interested
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Gopher wrote: |
American and British leaders and people, generally, would do well to take this as yet another indication that their "compassion," and hand-wringing is neither appreciated nor reciprocated abroad.
It remains a harsh world.
| Quote: |
WASHINGTON -- The cheering, flag-waving welcome that the convicted Lockerbie bomber received in Libya after being released from a life sentence was "highly objectionable," President Barack Obama said Friday.
His spokesman, Robert Gibbs, also criticized the bomber's reception as "tremendously offensive," echoing a sense of outrage that senior British leaders also have expressed...
"The images that we saw in Libya yesterday were outrageous and disgusting" and are "tremendously offensive to the survivors that lost a loved one," Gibbs said.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was "deeply distressing" and "deeply upsetting" to watch video of the convict's return home.
"Obviously, the sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, deeply distressing," Miliband told BBC radio Friday morning. He added that personally, "I find it deeply distressing of course, as well."
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had specifically asked Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi not to give al Megrahi a celebratory welcome, Brown's office at 10 Downing Street said... |
CNN Reports |
Why would anyone be surprised by this? This is typical Gaddafi. It doesn't make the decision to release a sick dying man the wrong one. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gopher
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| It projects weakness and vulnerability. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
|
| Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Gopher wrote: |
It remains a harsh world.
...
It projects weakness and vulnerability. |
Yes. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
