American Prosecutors Allege Libyan Freely Admitted to Pan Am Flight 103 Attack

US prosecutors have asserted that a Libyan national man freely admitted to participating in terrorist acts directed at US citizens, encompassing the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 incident and an aborted attempt to kill a US politician using a booby-trapped overcoat.

Statement Information

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have acknowledged his role in the murder of 270 people when the aircraft was brought down over the Scotland's community of the region, during interviewing in a Libya's holding center in the year 2012.

Known as the suspect, the 74-year-old has asserted that several hooded persons pressured him to provide the confession after threatening him and his family.

His attorneys are attempting to prevent it from being used as proof in his court case in DC in 2025.

Judicial Dispute

In reply, legal counsel from the federal prosecutors have declared they can prove in legal proceedings that the admission was "unforced, reliable and truthful."

The availability of the defendant's claimed admission was originally disclosed in 2020, when the US declared it was indicting him with constructing and activating the bomb employed on Pan Am 103.

Legal Team Claims

The defendant is alleged of being a ex- high-ranking officer in Libyan intelligence service and has been in American custody since 2022.

He has entered not guilty to the allegations and is due to stand trial at the federal court for the the capital in April.

Mas'ud's legal team are working to block the court from being informed about the statement and have presented a petition asking for it to be suppressed.

They argue it was obtained under coercion following the uprising which removed the former dictator in 2011.

Claimed Intimidation

They say previous personnel of the dictator's regime were being singled out with wrongful deaths, kidnappings and mistreatment when Mas'ud was taken from his dwelling by armed men the next period.

He was transported to an unofficial holding location where fellow prisoners were purportedly beaten and abused and was alone in a small cell when three disguised individuals gave him a solitary page of paper.

His lawyers claimed its scripted information commenced with an instruction that he was to acknowledge to the Lockerbie bombing and an additional terror attack.

Substantial Terror Events

The suspect claims he was ordered to memorise what it stated about the events and restate it when he was interviewed by a different individual the next day.

Fearing for his well-being and that of his family, he stated he thought he had no alternative but to obey.

In their reply to the defendant's request, attorneys from the American justice department have said the judge was being asked to exclude "extremely significant evidence" of the defendant's culpability in "two major terror events against American people."

Prosecution Responses

They say the defendant's account of incidents is unbelievable and inaccurate, and contend that the information of the statement can be corroborated by credible separate testimony assembled over many periods.

The legal authorities say the defendant and additional former personnel of Gaddafi's secret service were held in a covert detention facility managed by a militia when they were questioned by an experienced Libya's investigator.

They contend that in the chaos of the aftermath time, the center was "the safest location" for the defendant and the other personnel, considering the violence and anti-Gaddafi sentiment widespread at the period.

Interrogation Information

Based to the police officer who questioned the suspect, the center was "well run", the inmates were not confined and there were no signs of abuse or intimidation.

The officer has stated that over multiple sessions, a confident and fit Mas'ud detailed his role in the attacks of Flight 103.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also stated he had admitted constructing a explosive which detonated in a German club in the mid-1980s, killing three people, comprising two US military personnel, and wounding many others.

Other Accusations

He is also alleged to have recounted his participation in an attempt on the safety of an unidentified American diplomatic official at a state funeral in the Asian country.

The defendant is alleged to have explained that an individual travelling the US figure was bearing a rigged garment.

It was the suspect's task to activate the explosive but he decided not to do so after learning that the person carrying the item did not realize he was on a suicide mission.

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