Monday, August 24, 2009

Scottish Justice, the Oxymoron

Justice, Compassion and the Law

This past week in Scotland saw release of the Lockerbie Bomber by the Scottish and UK governments. The government of Scotland and most of the Scottish people claim that their Justice Secretary made the "right decision" for "absolutely the right reasons." That he was bound by the so-called "Rule of Compassion" in the Scottish "Rule of Law" has been reiterated ad infinitum, by Scottish leaders and people, Scottish scholars, and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown in support of their courts. They tell us that there was just no legal way for Scottish courts to show "compassion" to the families of the 270 slaughtered innocents. If it is true, as Scottish law scholars are saying, that their law can show mercy (compassion) only to convicted felons and not to the families of murderers' victims, how can that be justice? The answer is, there is no justice in Scotland, for "Justice without mercy is cruelty," taught Saint Thomas Aquinas.

No Mercy, No Justice: "Justice and mercy work beautifully together, and make no sense apart. Justice leads up to mercy, and mercy picks up where justice ends. Justice that does not allow for mercy is cold and inhuman. Mercy that does not presume justice is irresponsible and sentimental." Thomas Aquinas said that mercy "does not destroy justice, but is a certain kind of fulfillment of justice. .. Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; (and) justice without mercy is cruelty."

UPDATE: Even More Galling News! Scotland and Britain's new best friend, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, is due to set his bloody foot on U.S. soil for the first time next month when he comes to address the U.N. General Assembly. This evil-doer whose Libyan intelligence bombed an American airship out of the skies over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 innocents on board, wants to stay in a Libyan compound in New Jersey. How appropriate considering that 33 of those murdered were from New Jersey and were never allowed to returned to their home state alive.

UPDATE 2: All for the love of Libyan oil and Colonel Gadhafi
The Scotsman is reporting that the Scottish government shopped around for doctors until they found one who promised that Lockerbie Bomber Megrahi would be dead from prostate cancer in three months, which would trigger Scotland's "Compassion" law for murderers.

6 comments:

Sprezzatura said...

Hi Edna,

This new post demonstrates your continuing unwillingness to even consider that al Magrahi might be innocent.

The liklihood was that his appeal was about to be successful (see my previous comments), and he would have walked free. At the present time he remains guilty in the eyes of the law.

How would you and the families of the dead have felt if the guilty verdict was overturned? After having wrongly imprisoned an innocent man, how would the US prosecution and Scottish legal system then look to the world?

You can be sure about one thing - it would have been a great PR piece for the recruitment of fresh terrorists.

Sprezzatura said...

Hi Edna,

Worrying news emerging - the 'real' bomber could be an American:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/122299/-I-ll-reveal-true-identity-of-bomber

More than reason enough for the USA to want al Magrahi to die in jail?

Sprezzatura said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sprezzatura said...

Hmmmmm.... not quite as clear as that. Medical report available here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Justice/legal/lockerbie/medical-report

Edna Barney said...

If a court of law in Scotland ruled al Magrahi guilty of murdering 270 innocent souls, he's a "convicted mass murderer." Why should I consider him to be innocent? Doesn't make sense to me.

If he was not guilty as you claim, why didn't he go forth with his appeal? That says volumes about his guilt. The fact that others were involved in the plot and got away with it, doesn't make al Magrahi innocent, except to those who believe that two wrongs make everything right.

Sprezzatura said...

Further information on two wrongs not making a right:

http://bit.ly/KcodJ