Lockerbie Bomber Released ?

I am hard pressed to think a a single more heinous and cowardly crime in my entire life on this earth than that of the Lockerbie Bombing. To take the lives of two hundred seventy innocent men, woman and children shows a demonic view of life on the part of the perpetrator that it is almost impossible to fathom.
Then to view the press conference by the Scottish authority responsible, Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill for the decision to let this man go to his home in Libya to die from the prostate cancer he suffers in so called dignity I find equally difficult to understand. About the only specifics he gave relative to his decision was an obtuse reference to it being the right thing to do that "under our system of justice, mercy be available".
I say with every fiber in my being that, even as a person who's philosophy of life espouses the dignity of all life, to not stand up for justice to those who commit acts such as mass murder is itself a lack of compassion of the highest order. This was a cold calculated act and there were no extenuating circumstances whatsoever; moreover, he had ample time at many points in the long build-up to this crimes execution to walk away.

I wonder what positionMr. MacAskill would have taken had his family been on that flight.