US Prosecutors Assert Libyan National Freely Admitted to Lockerbie Attack

US government attorneys have claimed that a Libyan suspect freely confessed to being involved in operations against American targets, comprising the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 incident and an aborted conspiracy to assassinate a US government official using a rigged overcoat.

Statement Details

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is reported to have acknowledged his role in the deaths of 270 people when the aircraft was exploded over the Scottish area of the region, during questioning in a Libya's holding center in 2012.

Identified as the defendant, the senior individual has asserted that several masked persons compelled him to deliver the statement after intimidating him and his relatives.

His attorneys are trying to block it from being employed as proof in his legal proceedings in the US capital in the coming year.

Legal Dispute

In reply, legal counsel from the US Department of Justice have declared they can establish in the courtroom that the confession was "willing, trustworthy and accurate."

The existence of the defendant's alleged statement was first disclosed in 2020, when the US stated it was accusing him with constructing and priming the explosive device used on the aircraft.

Defense Claims

The family man is alleged of being a previous high-ranking officer in Libya's intelligence service and has been in American custody since 2022.

He has stated innocent to the charges and is due to appear in court at the federal court for the the capital in spring.

Mas'ud's legal team are working to prevent the court from hearing about the confession and have presented a petition asking for it to be suppressed.

They argue it was secured under pressure following the uprising which removed the former dictator in the early 2010s.

Claimed Coercion

They claim previous personnel of the ruler's administration were being singled out with illegal deaths, seizures and torture when the defendant was seized from his dwelling by armed individuals the subsequent year.

He was transported to an unregistered prison facility where other prisoners were purportedly beaten and abused and was isolated in a small cell when three masked individuals handed him a solitary sheet of material.

His legal representatives claimed its handwritten information began with an order that he was to admit to the Lockerbie incident and another terror attack.

Substantial Terror Incidents

The defendant states he was told to learn what it said about the events and repeat it when he was interrogated by someone else the next morning.

Worrying for his well-being and that of his offspring, he stated he thought he had no option but to acquiesce.

In their response to the legal team's motion, attorneys from the US Department of Justice have said the court was being requested to suppress "very significant testimony" of the defendant's culpability in "two major extremist attacks directed at Americans."

Government Responses

They say the suspect's story of events is implausible and untrue, and contend that the details of the statement can be verified by reliable independent evidence gathered over several periods.

The government attorneys state the defendant and additional ex- members of Gaddafi's intelligence agency were detained in a covert holding center operated by a faction when they were questioned by an experienced Libyan law enforcement official.

They argue that in the chaos of the post-uprising period, the facility was "the safest place" for the suspect and the additional personnel, accounting for the violence and anti-Gaddafi feeling widespread at the time.

Questioning Details

Based to the law enforcement official who interviewed Mas'ud, the center was "well run", the prisoners were not confined and there were no signs of torture or coercion.

The investigator has stated that over multiple sessions, a self-assured and healthy Mas'ud detailed his involvement in the bombings of the aircraft.

The FBI has also asserted he had acknowledged creating a device which exploded in a West Berlin club in 1986, killing multiple people, encompassing several US military personnel, and harming numerous others.

Other Accusations

He is also said to have described his role in an attempt on the life of an unnamed US foreign minister at a state funeral in the Asian country.

The defendant is said to have described that someone accompanying the American politician was wearing a rigged coat.

It was the suspect's assignment to detonate the explosive but he decided not to proceed after discovering that the person wearing the garment did not realize he was on a fatal assignment.

He chose "not to push the device" although his commander in the secret service being present at the moment and asking what was {going on|happening|occurring