Scotland, unaccustomed to the hot spotlight of international diplomacy, fought to justify its release of the Lockerbie bomber on Sunday, after a U.S. official angrily accused the country of rewarding terrorism, Reuters reported.
Scotland, which is part of the United Kingdom but has its own devolved powers, including its own parliament and a separate legal system, has been under assault since deciding on Thursday to free Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan who carried out the Lockerbie airline bombing, on compassionate grounds.
The head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller, wrote to Scotland's justice minister on Saturday accusing him of making a mockery of the rule of law and saying his much-criticised decision "rewards a terrorist".
Scotland has jurisdiction because the Pan Am jet was blown up over Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988, killing 259 people on board -- most of them Americans -- and 11 people on the ground.
Megrahi, the only person convicted, was tried in a Scottish court and sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2001. He was released last week after a series of medical reports showed he was dying of prostate cancer.
Scotland's first minister, Alex Salmond, who effectively functions as a prime minister in the country of five million people, rejected Mueller's accusations, saying Scotland had done what it had to do according to its own legal system.
"Obviously there's a great deal of disappointment and hurt among many people in the United States about our decision to grant compassionate release to the Lockerbie bomber," Salmond told Sky News on Sunday.
"We understand that, we recognise that ... But the process of compassionate release doesn't depend on the guilt or innocence of the party. It's an evaluation based essentially on the medical condition of the prisoner.
"We have to consider a compassionate release application, not sought by us but made by Mr Megrahi, in terms of Scots law. We have to consider these incredibly difficult decisions and make a decision without fear or favour on the basis of the Scottish legal system," he said.
Under Scottish law, release can be made on compassionate grounds if a prisoner has less than three months to live.
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