American Prosecutors Assert Libyan National Voluntarily Confessed to Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing

American government attorneys have asserted that a Libyan suspect willingly admitted to being involved in terrorist acts directed at US citizens, including the 1988's Lockerbie incident and an aborted attempt to assassinate a US politician using a rigged coat.

Admission Details

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is alleged to have confessed his involvement in the killing of 270 victims when the aircraft was brought down over the Scotland's town of Lockerbie, during interrogation in a Libyan holding center in the year 2012.

Identified as the suspect, the 74-year-old has asserted that multiple hooded persons pressured him to provide the confession after menacing him and his family.

His attorneys are trying to stop it from being utilized as proof in his trial in DC in 2025.

Courtroom Dispute

In reply, lawyers from the American justice department have said they can prove in legal proceedings that the admission was "voluntary, reliable and accurate."

The existence of Mas'ud's purported confession was originally made public in the year 2020, when the US stated it was accusing him with creating and preparing the IED employed on the aircraft.

Legal Team Claims

The father-of-six is charged of being a ex- colonel in Libyan intelligence agency and has been in American detention since recent years.

He has stated innocent to the accusations and is scheduled to stand trial at the US court for the District of Columbia in April.

His legal team are trying to block the court from being informed about the statement and have presented a petition asking for it to be excluded.

They assert it was acquired under duress following the uprising which overthrew Colonel Gaddafi in the early 2010s.

Purported Coercion

They say former officials of the ruler's government were being victimized with unlawful killings, abductions and abuse when the defendant was seized from his home by armed men the following period.

He was transported to an unofficial detention center where additional inmates were allegedly assaulted and harmed and was by himself in a cramped space when three disguised men handed him a single sheet of paper.

His legal representatives said its scripted information commenced with an order that he was to admit to the Lockerbie attack and a separate terrorist incident.

Substantial Terror Events

The suspect asserts he was told to learn what it stated about the events and restate it when he was interviewed by another person the subsequent morning.

Worrying for his well-being and that of his children, he said he felt he had no choice but to obey.

In their answer to the defense's request, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have said the court was being petitioned to suppress "highly significant testimony" of Mas'ud's culpability in "multiple significant terror attacks directed at American people."

Prosecution Rebuttals

They claim the suspect's account of events is unconvincing and inaccurate, and assert that the details of the admission can be corroborated by trustworthy independent testimony assembled over several years.

The legal authorities say the suspect and other ex- officials of Gaddafi's intelligence agency were detained in a hidden detention facility managed by a faction when they were interviewed by an seasoned Libya's police officer.

They assert that in the turmoil of the aftermath period, the facility was "the protected location" for the defendant and the fellow personnel, considering the conflict and anti-Gaddafi sentiment prevailing at the moment.

Investigation Details

Based to the law enforcement official who interviewed Mas'ud, the center was "well run", the inmates were not bound and there were no evidence of torture or intimidation.

The officer has claimed that over multiple sessions, a confident and fit Mas'ud described his role in the bombings of Pan Am 103.

The federal authorities has also asserted he had admitted creating a explosive which detonated in a Berlin club in the mid-1980s, killing three individuals, comprising two US soldiers, and wounding numerous others.

Additional Accusations

He is also said to have detailed his participation in an plot on the life of an anonymous US diplomatic official at a public event in Pakistan.

The suspect is alleged to have explained that an individual travelling the US official was carrying a booby-trapped overcoat.

It was Mas'ud's mission to trigger the explosive but he opted not to act after discovering that the person wearing the garment did not realize he was on a fatal assignment.

He chose "not to trigger the trigger" although his supervisor in the secret service being present at the moment and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring