robomatic, the guy who decided to release Megrahi did not do so because he thought Megrahi might be innocent. In fact he stated explicitly that he accepted the court verdict. Maybe that's what he believes, or maybe he just thought that questioning the verdict (and thereby impuning the US intelligence agencies) was a step too far even for the independently minded Scottish Nationalist Party.

The more intelligent relatives of victims, seemingly all British (sheer coincidence I'm sure), do regard the evidence against Megrahi as wafer thin, as you are bound to do yourself robomatic, simply because it is. But that's a separate issue. Megrahi's release was purely an act of compassion - an option that is available in Scotland as Q pointed out (also available in England and Wales), but apparently not in the US.

And by the way, doubts about the conviction do not rest on one of those bizarre conspiracy theories to which gullible Americans seem to be addicted. Megrahi's appeal, now aborted, was recommended by Scotland's Criminal Cases Review Commission after an intensive four-year re-examination of the case. Like its England-Wales counterpart, that commission does not lightly question court verdicts, as any UK lawyer would tell you.