Salmond defends Lockerbie decision

Aug 23 2009

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has been forced to defend the release of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Al Megrahi in the face of a blistering attack from the head of the FBI.

The leader of the Scottish National Party administration in Edinburgh said that they had made the "right decision" in freeing Megrahi on compassionate grounds after serving less than eight years of his life sentence.

However, he came under fire from his Labour predecessor as first minister, Jack McConnell, who accused the SNP government of a "grave error of judgment" which had damaged Scotland's reputation.