The Firm dedicates website to question for Justice Minister
Scottish Legal magazine The Firm has taken the unsual step of dedicating its website homepage to a single question today as it looks for answers from Scotland's justice secretary about Lockerbie bomber Ali Mohmad Al Megrahi.
The magazine has closed its usual news homepage and replaced it with a holding page punctuated by a single question that it wants answered by justice secretary, Kenny MacAskill.
The question is: "Has it ever been intimated to Megrahi or his representatives that he would be more likely to be granted compassionate release if he dropped his appeal?"
The question has been raised following a tip off to the magazine.
Steven Raeburn, editor of The Firm, said: “In a special editorial published today, the Firm argues that if figures within the Justice Department have ‘rammed home’ to Megrahi that his appeal must be dropped if compassionate release is to be granted, this would amount to an almost unimaginably nefarious act of psychological torture.”
Raeburn said it was "imperative" that McAskill answer the question as it was in the interest of the public that the point be clarified.
“If such blackmail is indeed being carried on within the justice department, now is the time to root it out, and assure the public that the decision will be made on its merits alone,” Raeburn added.
Megrahi is serving a life sentence for killing 270 people in the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie. He was convicted in 2001.
The Firm has long followed the appeal of the terminally ill Megrahi who is seeking to return home to Libya.