A long shadow

The bombing that blew up Pan Am flight 103 in the sky above Lockerbie,a small Scottish town,on December 21st 1988,was...

The bombing that blew up Pan Am flight 103 in the sky above Lockerbie,a small Scottish town,on December 21st 1988,was the worst terrorist atrocity in British history. Of the 270 people who died,189 were Americans; 11 were killed on the ground by falling debris. On August 20th the only person convicted of the crime was released from prison in Scotland.

After a tortuous diplomatic and legal process,Abdelbaset al-Megrahi,a Libyan intelligence agent,was tried in the Netherlands,but under Scottish law,in 2000-01. His co-accused was acquitted; Mr Megrahi was sentenced to life,with a minimum term that was later set at 27 years. Now suffering from advanced and terminal cancer,Mr Megrahi had asked to be released on compassionate grounds. Separately,under a prisoner-transfer agreement that they recently agreed with Britain,the Libyan authorities requested in May that he be sent home to serve out the rest of his sentence.

Under Scotlands devolution settlement,a little improbably the man responsible for deciding Mr Megrahis fate was Kenny MacAskill,the Scottish justice secretary. Mr MacAskill,had three options: release as sanctioned by a Scottish law of 1993; transfer; or keep Mr Megrahi in Greenock prison for his few remaining days. Mr MacAskill rejected the transfer request,managing several digs at the British government as he did so. But he approved the compassionate release; there was talk of the prisoner being whisked back to Libya in a jet sent by Muammar Qaddafi,the countrys erratic leader.

Many Americans vociferously opposed sending Mr Megrahi back. In unusually strident language,Hillary Clinton,the secretary of state,said it would be absolutely wrong to free him. Ted Kennedy,John Kerry and others also weighed in. So did some relatives of the dead.

But others,including some relatives of British victims,will be disappointed for a different reason. There are lingering questions about Mr Megrahis role and those of other individuals and states. In return for the lifting of sanctions,Libya compensated the families of the dead and acknowledged responsibility for the bombing 8211; thought by some to be retaliation for the 1986 American air strike on Tripoli but Libyan officials implied the move was motivated by pragmatism rather than guilt. The Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission,which investigates potential miscarriages of justice,had referred the case for a second appeal. But to be eligible for transfer,on August 18th Mr Megrahi dropped this appeal. So the evidence will now not be re-examined in court.

Alex Salmond,Scotlands first minister,insisted before Mr MacAskills decision was announced that there will be no consideration of international power politics or anything else. But the Lockerbie case has always been intertwined with high politics,in particular with Mr Qaddafis efforts to launder his reputation and drag Libya out of international isolation. His countrys rich hydrocarbon deposits and its role in the fight against Islamist terrorism may also be considerations. The fact that his son recently bumped into Lord Mandelson,Britains powerful first secretary,on holiday in Corfu,has fuelled speculation about a stitch-up. Whether or not such chatter is overheated,and whatever the demands of compassion,justice seems not to have been well-served.

The Economist Newspaper Limited 2009