Two mass killers, two different responses
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi that sparked wide criticism.
Asked if Thomas Hamilton would have been granted compassionate release if suffering terminal cancer, Mr Salmond replied that he would never have been freed on such grounds. This drew attacks on two counts, first by its implication that somehow the downing of the Pan-Am airliner was less of an outrage than the Dunblane massacre; and second that it was inconsistent with previous Scottish government explanations of Megrahi's release. Justice secretary Kenny Mac-Askill has said in the wake of the decision to free Megrahi, that mercy should have been shown "no matter the severity of the atrocity perpetrated".
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Hide AdHow can it be right to release an aircraft bomber on compassionate grounds and not Hamilton were he to have contracted terminal cancer? A neatly posed question put the SNP leader on the spot and opened up the issue to fresh critical scrutiny.