Unlike it seems most people, I listened live, in full, last week to the speech by the Scottish Justice Minister in which he announced that he was setting free on compassionate grounds the Lockerbie bomber.

It went on for a bit and he seemed to be trying to justify his actions. The one part I did not understand was the refusal to agree to prisoner transfer. He had talked to the Americans and they said there was an agreement the man could not be released. He talked with the British authorities and they said no such agreement existed but would not comment further, nevertheless he acceded to the wishes of the Americans. The speech ended with release on compassionate grounds.

A clear message has been sent out to the Arab and Muslim world, we do not behave like you do. We do not drag innocent people off the street, put a hood over their head, sit them in front of a video camera and hack their head off, then beam the footage around the world via the Internet.

The only downside was that an appeal against conviction had to be withdrawn before release could be considered. There is question over guilt, conviction was on the flimsiest of evidence. Those who doubt this should read a detailed report by Private Eye, written I think by the late Paul Foot, a rare example of an investigative journalist.

We have since seen unprecedented interference in the Scottish legal system, both before and after by the Americans. Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama have lost a lot of credibility worldwide by their baying for blood.

An unprecedented interference in the Scottish legal system by the Director of the FBI who has publicly attacked the Scottish Justice Minister. Support has come from a most unlikely source, the former Lord Advocate of Scotland, the chief prosecutor at the Lockerbie trial who has publicly attacked the Director of the FBI and furthermore has thrown down the gauntlet and called upon him to join with him and debate the issue in public.

Releasing a dying man on compassionate ground does not supply succour to terrorists. On the contrary it shows we operate to higher standards than they. No doubt a difficult concept to comprehend for a country that ignores Geneva Conventions and tortures its prisoners.

The level of ignorance of the Americans is appalling. A former senior FBI investigator of the Lockerbie crash has attacked the Scottish Justice Minister for not consulting with the Americans. Had he bothered to check, he would have found that extensive consultation took place, there was also pressure and arm twisting by the Americans.

At the time of the crash, Americans displayed their usual arrogance, they sealed off the area, behaved as though they were in their own country.

Scottish politicians have descended to the gutter and played cheap party politics over the issue. We saw more of this yesterday with the recall of the Scottish Parliament, little more than a glorified town council. We have seen the same gutter politics from David Cameron, leader of her majesty's opposition.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (a Scottish MP) has shown his usual lack of backbone by remaining silent on the matter, leaving it to Peter Mandelson, who in all but name is running the country and to his credit has been prepared to go on record.

What has the Scottish Justice Minister done that has caused such a furore? He has released on compassionate ground a man who is terminally ill with prostate cancer, a man who has a few months left to live. He has released him to allow his fate to be decided by a higher authority.

Lest we forget, the US is in the same league as Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, that is it executes its own citizens.

If we are to talk of mass murderers, should we not be talking of war criminal George W Bush?

Have we already forgotten the mass slaughter of Palestinians by Israelis earlier this year?

Are we to descend to the level of Malaysia where a woman has been dragged out of her home, thrown into prison, to be lashed with a cane for drinking a beer in a hotel bar?

I recall many years ago being at the House of Commons. Outside was rather unpleasant mob calling for the return of the death penalty.

I think it was Gandhi who once said that if we all followed an eye for an eye the world would be full of blind men.

Scots can hold their heads up in the world. They should feel proud of the decision taken in their name by the Scottish Justice Minister, a man who refused to bow to pressure and did what was right.

The Scottish Parliament met on Monday in emergency session. For what purpose other than to allow its members to wallow in the gutter was not clear. The gist of what they had to say seemed to be that the Justice Minister should have played geo-politics with a matter of justice. Whatever his faults may be, he had the courage to do what was right. Shame on those who attacked him for cheap party political reasons, when what they should have done was get out of the gutter and back their Justice Minister for having the courage to take a very difficult decision and unite in their condemnation of the American government for their inference in and attack upon the Scottish justice system.

Some thoughts on compassion and grace:

What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey

'I Thirst' by Stephen Cottrell

Why Forgive? by Johann Christoph Arnold

Rumours of Another World by Philip Yancey