History will record Megrahi's release as the right decision

WHEN historians look back on the momentous event which unfolded yesterday in Scotland around the release by justice secretary Kenny MacAskill of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, what will they record as significant?

They might find that it was the day that devolved Scotland came of age, when the significance of the powers devolved from Westminster came starkly into relief as a Scottish minister took a decision that resonated across the globe.

They might see yesterday as the falling into place of the final piece of the diplomatic jigsaw that brought the once reviled rogue regime of Muammar al-Gaddafi in from the cold fully into the embrace of the western powers fearful of the putative Islamic superpower that is Iran. Or it could be seen as merely the closing of one chapter in the long story of the murder of 270 people, 11 of them on the ground, when Pan AM 103 exploded over the quiet town of Lockerbie in 1988.

All of those versions of history are possible, but when they do look back, historians should consider something more important, more fundamental, more significant: that at 1pm on Thursday, 20 August, 2009, justice secretary Kenny MacAskill did what we hope and expect our elected leaders to do: he made the right decision.

Compared with that essential fact, everything else – the evolution of home rule, international power politics, and even the Pan Am disaster narrative – is secondary. The justice secretary listened to the evidence, he took advice, he considered and, in the quasi-judicial role he assumes under laws, he acted correctly.

This newspaper has been critical of the process that led up to that decision – the leaks, the hints and the spin, the delays and the signs of hesitation – but that should not detract from giving Mr MacAskill the credit he deserves for articulating a fundamental tenet of modern Scottish justice: the showing of mercy and compassion.

It is in that context that the criticism from the United States of the decision to allow Megrahi to return to Libya should be viewed. That a country which executes so many people, some of them undoubtedly innocent, and appears to hold to the principle that revenge equates with justice, should criticise Scotland's legal system is rich.

However, as Megrahi travelled home to die, we should not forget that he is still guilty of the murder of 270 people and he will die a convicted murderer. Yes, he denied his victims the chance to die with loved ones he has been granted, but his last days will either be racked by pain or fugged with powerful painkillers and to keep a man in jail under such circumstances would, as Mr MacAskill said, debase the principles of justice to those of terrorists like Megrahi.

There are still so many unanswered questions that a public inquiry remains necessary and the intransigent UK government, which has refused to release papers, should co-operate fully. The search for the truth must go on.