Scottish cardinal defends release of Lockerbie bomber

SCOTLAND’S Roman Catholic leader attacked America’s “culture of vengeance” yesterday as he defended the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Writing in Scotland on Sunday newspaper, Cardinal Keith O’Brien said despite the “gratuitous barbarity” of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – who the Scottish Government freed last year on compassionate grounds – ministers were right “to affirm our own humanity”.

He accused the American justice system of being based on “vengeance and retribution” and said he was glad to live in a country where “justice is tempered with mercy”.