Kenny MacAskill

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This article is about a person involved in a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses. (August 2009)

Kenny MacAskill MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Justice
Incumbent
Assumed office  17 May 2007
First Minister	Alex Salmond
Preceded by	Cathy Jamieson (as Minister for Justice)
Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Member for Lothians 1999-2007
Incumbent
Assumed office  3 May 2007
Preceded by	Susan Deacon
Majority	1,382 (4.6%)
Born	28 April 1958 (1958-04-28) (age 51) Edinburgh
Nationality	Scottish
Political party	Scottish National Party
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh

Kenneth "Kenny" MacAskill (born 28 April 1958) is a Scottish National Party politician, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh since 2007.

Contents 1 Background and family life 2 Early political career 3 As Justice Secretary 4 Release of Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi 4.1 American reaction 4.2 British reaction 5 References 6 External links

Background and family life

MacAskill was born in Edinburgh and was educated at Linlithgow Academy before studying law at the University of Edinburgh. After completing his training at a firm in Glasgow, he set up Erskine MacAskill. He is married with two sons.

Early political career

He came to prominence inside the SNP through his activities in the left wing 79 Group and became a party office bearer. In the 1980s he led the "Can't Pay, Won't Pay" campaign in opposition to the Poll Tax. It was widely known that he often disagreed politically with Alex Salmond, leader of the SNP through the 1990s, and he was at one stage viewed as belonging to the SNP Fundamentalist camp, being perceived to be allied to figures such as Jim Sillars and Alex Neil within the party.

After MacAskill became on MSP in 1999 upon the establishment of the Scottish Parliament as a regional list member for the Lothians he moderated his political position, seeing the development of the Scottish Parliament as the most achievable route for Scotland to become an Independent Nation State. In this respect he was regarded as having adopted a gradualist approach to Scottish independence in place of his previous fundamentalist position. He was one of former SNP leader John Swinney's closest supporters.

In 1999 MacAskill was detained in London before the Euro 2000 second leg play-off match between Scotland and England on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.^[1] As he was not charged with any crime the incident did not affect his position within the SNP and he won re-election at the 2003 election.

In 2004, after John Swinney stood down as SNP party leader, Kenny MacAskill backed the joint leadership ticket of Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon. He had initially intended to stand for deputy leader himself on a joint ticket with Nicola Sturgeon, who would have sought the leadership. He gave way when Salmond reconsidered his earlier decision not to seek re-election to the leaders position. Upon their election as leader and depute leader respectively MacAskill was selected to be the SNP's depute leader in the Scottish Parliament, making him the shadow Deputy First Minister.

MacAskill authored a book, 'Building a Nation - Post Devolution Nationalism in Scotland', which was launched at the SNP's 2004 annual conference in Inverness. He has since edited another book 'Agenda for a New Scotland - Visions of Scotland 2020' and has co-authored 'Global Scots - Voices From Afar' with former First Minister Henry McLeish.

As Justice Secretary

For the 2007 Scottish Parliament election MacAskill was top of the SNP's party list for the Lothians region. He stood in the Edinburgh East and Musselburgh constituency, winning that seat from the Scottish Labour Party with a 13.3% swing to give a majority of 1,382. This was the first time the SNP had ever won a parliamentary seat in Edinburgh. After the SNP's victory at the 2007 Scottish Parliament Election, MacAskill became the Cabinet Secretary for Justice.

One of MacAskill's first acts as a cabinet secretary was to lift the ban on alcohol sales at international rugby union games held at Murrayfield Stadium.^[2]

MacAskill also insisted that the 2007 terror attack on Glasgow Airport was not committed by 'home-grown' terrorists in that the suspects were not "born or bred" in Scotland but had merely lived in the country for a "period of time".^[3]

Release of Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi

On 20 August 2009, MacAskill released Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, who had been convicted of the bomb attack on Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 270 people. The release on compassionate grounds came after Megrahi had served 8½ years of a life sentence imposed by a special Scottish Court in the Netherlands.

Megrahi had developed prostate cancer. Dr Karol Sikora of the University of Buckingham examined Megrahi in prison early in July, and requested an "urgent" decision on returning him to Libya because "[w]e believe he has only a very short period of time to live". ^[4] MacAskill ordered his release under a 1993 Scottish statute enabling the release from prison of anyone deemed by competent medical authority to have three months or less to live.^[5] MacAskill has said repeatedly that he bears sole responsibility for the decision.^[6][7]

American reaction

In the United States, where 180 of the 270 victims came from, the decision met with overwhelming hostility. Most families of the victims were "outraged and dismayed" by the decision, calling it "despicable," "ludicrous," "appalling," "heartbreaking," an "absolutely horrible decision," and "an absolutely disgusting disgrace."^{[8][9][10][11]} Only one American relative offered public support for MacAskill's decision.^[12] Polling taken the following week found that 82% of Americans opposed the decision, and 10% supported it.^[13]

The decision was called "absolutely wrong" by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,^[14] and "an outrage" and a "caving in" by Senator Frank Lautenberg.^[9] President Barack Obama denounced the decision and Attorney General Eric Holder said that there was "no justification for releasing this convicted terrorist whose actions took the lives of 270 individuals."^[11] Senator John Kerry, the former Democratic Presidential candidate, said that the decision “turn[s] the word ’compassion’ on its head.”^[15] FBI director Robert Mueller, who had been a lead investigator in the 1988 bombing, was "outraged at [the] decision, blithely defended on the grounds of 'compassion'" and called it "as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice" in an open letter to MacAskill.^[16] Independent Senator Joe Lieberman and Democratic Senator Ben Cardin called for an inquiry into the decision.^[17]

The New York Times opined that "for many Americans, his release rekindled the agony and anguish of loss and provoked questions about the notions of compassion and justice used by Scotland to justify its decision."^[18] The Chicago Tribune said that "MacAskill's self-praising paean to his own mercy ... mocked [the] victims" and was "feckless."^[19] The Los Angeles Times said that "MacAskill's blinkered interpretation of 'compassion' took no account of the enormity of Megrahi's crime or his refusal to acknowledge his guilt," and showed "no compassion for relatives of the 270 people killed when the jet exploded over Lockerbie."^[20]

British reaction

British reaction has been mixed. Iain Gray, the Scottish Labour leader, said that "The SNP's handling of this case has let down Scotland. Kenny MacAskill's conduct has damaged the Scottish Justice system and, in turn, Scotland's international reputation."^[21] Richard Baker, the shadow justice minister, said the decision was "an act of unpardonable folly" and called for MacAskill's resignation.^[22] Former First Minister Jack McConnell said that MacAskill had "damaged Scotland in a way 'that will take years to recover." ^[23] Writing in the Telegraph, former Scottish Office minister Brian Wilson wrote that the decision "shamed" Scotland, and co-opted an anti-war slogan to sum up his anger: "Not in our name, Mr MacAskill."^[24]

Others were more positive. Former Labour MP Tam Dalyell, who has long believed in Megrahi's innocence, said that MacAskill "had arrived at the right decision on compassionate grounds" and Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Libya, said while he understood public anger about the release, "there are not good reasons why anybody convicted of that crime should be excepted from normal rules which apply for considering release on compassionate grounds."^[25] A representative of the Church of Scotland also supported the decision: Rev. Ian Galloway, the convener of the Church and Society Council, said that "justice is not lost in acting in mercy." The Archbishop of Glasgow, Mario Conti, voiced his personal support for the decision, describing compassion as "one of the principles inscribed on the mace of the Scottish Parliament by which Scotland's government should operate".^[26]

John Mosey, a priest who lost a daughter on Pan Am Flight 103, expressed his disappointment that halting Megrahi’s appeal before it went to court meant that the public would never hear "this important evidence — the six separate grounds for appeal that the SCCRC felt were important enough to put forward, that could show that there’s been a miscarriage of justice."^[27]

The British Government has declined to express an opinion on the decision itself on constitutional grounds,^[28] but has denied that it gave succour to terrorists, and condemned the scenes at Tripoli airport^[29]. Alistair Darling pointed out that as a question of criminal justice, and thus a devolved matter, it would be inappropriate for London to comment on it.^[30] Conservative leader David Cameron called the decision "the product of some completely nonsensical thinking"^[31], and has since written to Gordon Brown, calling on him to express an opinion.^[28]

Media reaction in Britain was divided. The Times^[32] and the English edition of The Daily Telegraph condemned Megrahi's release.^[33] By contrast, The Scotsman,^[34], The Herald,^[35] The Independent,^[36] and the Scottish edition of the Telegraph called it controversial, but the right decision.^[37]

The Scottish Parliament was recalled from its summer break to receive a statement from and question MacAskill.^[38] This is the third time in its ten year history that the Parliament has been recalled, the previous two occasions being necessitated by the deaths of Donald Dewar and the Queen Mother.^[38]

References

External links

• Kenny MacAskill MSP official site
• An independent Scotland hinges on its economy Kenny MacAskill's article in The Scotsman 2 June, 2005
• Kenny MacAskill MSP Scottish Parliament webpage
• Kenny MacAskill MSP biography at SNP website
• Kenny MacAskill MSP Scottish Government biography

Scottish Parliament
Preceded by Susan Deacon	Member of the Scottish Parliament for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh 2007–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Cathy Jamieson (as Minister for Justice)	Cabinet Secretary for Justice 2007–present	Incumbent

v • d • e      Scottish Cabinet Alex Salmond (First Minister) · Nicola Sturgeon (Deputy First Minister and Health and Wellbeing) · John Swinney (Finance and Sustainable Growth) · Fiona Hyslop (Education and Lifelong Learning) · Kenny MacAskill (Justice) · Richard Lochhead (Rural Affairs and the Environment)

v • d • e Members of the Scottish Parliament in the Lothians region Elected in the 2007 election Constituency MSPs Sarah Boyack (Lab, Edinburgh Central) · Kenny MacAskill (SNP, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) · Malcolm Chisholm (Lab, Edinburgh North and Leith) · David McLetchie (Con, Edinburgh Pentlands) · Mike Pringle (Lib Dem, Edinburgh South) · Margaret Smith (Lib Dem, Edinburgh West) · Mary Mulligan (Lab, Linlithgow) · Angela Constance (SNP, Livingston)  · Rhona Brankin (Lab, Midlothian) Additional Members Gavin Brown (Con) · George Foulkes (Lab) · Robin Harper (Green) · Fiona Hyslop (SNP) · Margo MacDonald (Ind) · Ian McKee (SNP) · Shirley-Anne Somerville (SNP) Labour (5 seats), SNP (5 seats), Conservative (2 seats), Lib Dems, (2 seats), Greens (1 seat), Independent (1 seat)

v • d • e Scottish National Party MSPs Elected in the 2007 election Brian Adam · Bashir Ahmad · Alasdair Allan · Keith Brown · Aileen Campbell · Willie Coffey · Angela Constance · Bruce Crawford · Roseanna Cunningham · Nigel Don · Bob Doris  · Fergus Ewing · Linda Fabiani · Joe Fitzpatrick · Kenneth Gibson · Rob Gibson · Christine Grahame · Chris Harvie · Jamie Hepburn · Fiona Hyslop · Adam Ingram · Bill Kidd · Richard Lochhead · Kenny MacAskill · Tricia Marwick · Jim Mather · Michael Matheson · Stewart Maxwell · Ian McKee · Christina McKelvie · Stuart McMillan · Alasdair Morgan · Alex Neil  · Gil Paterson · Shona Robison · Michael Russell · Alex Salmond · Shirley-Anne Somerville · Stewart Stevenson · Nicola Sturgeon · John Swinney · David Thompson · Maureen Watt · Andrew Welsh · Sandra White · Bill Wilson · John Wilson