Should the Lockerbie bomber be released?

[Pappa]

A lot of this argument is pointless really. The Scottish authorities received a request, they followed their own rules in deciding whether to carry out the request. The result was a release. By the sounds of it, there's not much different they could have done.

[maiforpeace]

Of course the US doesn't agree with the release. We dont have compassion.

At this point in time, if the Lockerbie Bomber had been tried in the US, he would have been mired in appeals to prevent him from the death penalty. We prefer to throw hundreds and thousands of dollars in legal fees away first before murdering someone.

[lordpasternack]

The thing is, are these people celebrating him for being a mass murderer or for him being released from false imprisonment? That particular detail isn't made clear in the news report.

There was a mention on the BBC last night I or the night before that it was in fact felt by Libyans to be the latter. They purportedly think he's an innocent man. For some strange reason though - since that mention - they have been loathe to clarify why they think the man was greeted with fanfare.

[Trolldor]

The thing is, are these people celebrating him for being a mass murderer or for him being released from false imprisonment?

Even if it is the former of those two reasons, I don't think that alters or undermines the validity of the rationale behind the Scottish Government's decision, ie humanitarian compassion. In fact, I think such demonstrations of idiotic and dangerous human behaviour (ie terrorism/celebrating terrorism, human rights abuse, etc) only serve to highlight the importance of setting the example of humanitarian compassion.

It's important because the media is presenting it without a stated point of view. Instead they use tone to define the ambiguous for the reader. They bias individuals - perhaps deliberately, perhaps unconsciously - because of this. They keep commenting on how the celebrations were said by others to be inappropriate or insulting, but never why.

There was a mention on the BBC last night I or the night before that it was in fact felt by Libyans to be the latter. They purportedly think he's an innocent man. For some strange reason though - since that mention - they have been loathe to clarify why they think the man was greeted with fanfare.

Well, it may be some believe he did do it, may be that some believe he's innocent, and both parties want to celebrate his release. They they have failed to elaborate is suspect, but that no terrorist group has come out, yet, and celebrated his release says even more.