Countdown Series: Kenny MacAskill, MP former Justice Secretary

Member of Parliament and former Cabinet Secretary for Justice

Kenny MacAskill is a Member of Parliament (MP) and a former Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP). He represented the SNP, the governing party in Scotland, until he left to join the Alba Party in 2021.

MacAskill in his former role as Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Scotland oversaw the transfer of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to his native Libya. 

MacAskill’s background as a parliamentarian, lawyer and former Cabinet Secretary for Justice, puts him in a unique position to understand the background to the Alex Salmond and Craig Murray trials and how justice systems should operate in a democracy.

In the following series of four short clips, MacAskill describes how flaws in Scotland’s justice system are being exploited to selectively target journalists and silence them.