🔗 Share this article

US legal authorities have stated that a Libyan suspect willingly admitted to being involved in terrorist acts directed at Americans, comprising the 1988's Pan Am Flight 103 incident and an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate a US public figure using a explosive-laden garment.

Confession Information

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is alleged to have admitted his participation in the murder of 270 people when Flight 103 was destroyed over the Scottish community of Lockerbie, during questioning in a Libyan prison in 2012.

Known as the suspect, the 74-year-old has asserted that several disguised men compelled him to provide the statement after menacing him and his family.

His attorneys are working to prevent it from being utilized as evidence in his court case in Washington in 2025.

Judicial Conflict

In answer, legal counsel from the US Department of Justice have stated they can prove in legal proceedings that the confession was "voluntary, trustworthy and accurate."

The presence of Mas'ud's purported statement was initially revealed in the year 2020, when the US stated it was charging him with creating and preparing the bomb used on Flight 103.

Defense Assertions

The family man is charged of being a previous colonel in Libya's secret service and has been in US detention since recent years.

He has stated not responsible to the charges and is scheduled to face trial at the District Court for the Washington DC in April.

Mas'ud's lawyers are working to block the trial from learning about the statement and have filed a petition asking for it to be withheld.

They contend it was secured under coercion following the uprising which toppled Colonel Gaddafi in the early 2010s.

Purported Coercion

They assert ex- members of the ruler's regime were being singled out with unlawful deaths, abductions and abuse when the suspect was abducted from his home by armed men the following time.

He was taken to an unregistered detention center where additional prisoners were reportedly beaten and mistreated and was by himself in a cramped space when several hooded individuals handed him a one page of documentation.

His attorneys said its handwritten contents commenced with an command that he was to confess to the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and an additional violent act.

Substantial Terrorist Events

Mas'ud asserts he was ordered to memorise what it stated about the occurrences and repeat it when he was questioned by another person the subsequent time.

Being concerned for his well-being and that of his family, he said he believed he had no alternative but to acquiesce.

In their answer to the legal team's petition, legal counsel from the US Department of Justice have said the court was being petitioned to exclude "very relevant evidence" of the suspect's culpability in "two significant terror events targeting US citizens."

Government Responses

They assert the defendant's account of events is implausible and untrue, and assert that the details of the confession can be verified by reliable separate evidence assembled over many periods.

The legal authorities claim the defendant and other former personnel of the former leader's secret service were held in a covert prison operated by a faction when they were questioned by an knowledgeable Libya's investigator.

They argue that in the turmoil of the post-revolution era, the facility was "the most secure place" for Mas'ud and the other personnel, given the conflict and resistance sentiment prevailing at the period.

Questioning Details

Per to the law enforcement official who interviewed Mas'ud, the facility was "well run", the prisoners were not restrained and there were no evidence of coercion or pressure.

The investigator has stated that over 48 hours, a confident and healthy defendant described his involvement in the attacks of the aircraft.

The federal authorities has also asserted he had confessed constructing a device which detonated in a Berlin club in the mid-1980s, killing three individuals, encompassing two US military personnel, and harming many additional.

Other Accusations

He is also reported to have described his participation in an attempt on the life of an unnamed American diplomatic official at a public event in the Asian country.

The defendant is reported to have explained that a person with the US politician was bearing a rigged garment.

It was the defendant's assignment to trigger the device but he chose not to proceed after learning that the individual wearing the garment did not understand he was on a fatal assignment.

He opted "not to activate the device" although his commander in the secret service being alongside at the time and asking what was {going on|happening|occurring