Rome, Italy, Aug 9, 2010 / 15:48 pm
A "culture of vengeance" is behind the U.S. justice system's desire to investigate the Lockerbie bomber again, said the U.K.'s only cardinal on Sunday. He defended Scotland's decision to release the convicted criminal last year and said that the U.S. should respect this verdict and take another look at "compassion" in its own legal system.
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, in a Sunday statement, supported the decision of Scottish government officials who did not attend a hearing in Washington D.C. for a further inquiry of Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi, saying that the Scottish justice system operates on “compassion” rather than “vengeance.”
Al-Megrahi was convicted and jailed for the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 which claimed 270 lives, 189 of which were American, on Dec. 21, 1988. He was released by the Scottish legal system in Aug. 2009 for medical reasons.
The U.S. Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee has been recently investigating the possibility that petroleum giant BP played a role in the criminal's release because of oil drilling contracts in Al-Megrahi's home country of Libya. After Scottish officials declined the request to participate in the Senate inquiry in Washington, a July 29 hearing was postponed.