US Prosecutors Claim Libyan Voluntarily Admitted to Lockerbie Bombing
US legal authorities have claimed that a Libyan national suspect willingly confessed to participating in terrorist acts targeting American targets, encompassing the 1988's Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and an aborted attempt to kill a US politician using a rigged coat.
Admission Details
Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is reported to have acknowledged his participation in the murder of 270 individuals when Pan Am 103 was destroyed over the Scottish town of the region, during interrogation in a Libyan holding center in the year 2012.
Known as the defendant, the elderly man has stated that several hooded individuals compelled him to provide the statement after intimidating him and his family.
His legal representatives are attempting to stop it from being utilized as testimony in his trial in Washington next year.
Courtroom Battle
In answer, attorneys from the federal prosecutors have stated they can establish in legal proceedings that the confession was "unforced, credible and accurate."
The availability of Mas'ud's claimed statement was originally disclosed in the year 2020, when the US announced it was accusing him with constructing and preparing the explosive device employed on the aircraft.
Defendant's Assertions
The defendant is charged of being a former high-ranking officer in Libya's secret service and has been in US custody since 2022.
He has pleaded not responsible to the charges and is expected to stand trial at the federal court for the Washington DC in the coming months.
Mas'ud's legal team are attempting to prevent the jury from being informed about the confession and have submitted a request asking for it to be suppressed.
They argue it was secured under coercion following the overthrow which toppled the Libyan leader in 2011.
Claimed Intimidation
They assert previous members of the dictator's government were being targeted with illegal deaths, seizures and torture when Mas'ud was taken from his dwelling by hostile men the next year.
He was moved to an informal holding location where other inmates were reportedly beaten and abused and was isolated in a small space when multiple disguised men presented him a one sheet of material.
His legal representatives stated its scripted information started with an command that he was to admit to the Lockerbie bombing and another violent act.
Significant Extremist Events
The defendant asserts he was told to remember what it indicated about the events and repeat it when he was questioned by a different individual the following day.
Worrying for his security and that of his children, he claimed he believed he had no option but to acquiesce.
In their answer to the defense's request, lawyers from the American justice department have stated the tribunal was being petitioned to exclude "highly pertinent evidence" of Mas'ud's culpability in "two major terrorist events targeting Americans."
Government Responses
They claim the suspect's version of events is unconvincing and inaccurate, and contend that the contents of the admission can be supported by trustworthy external evidence assembled over numerous periods.
The legal authorities claim the defendant and fellow ex- members of the former leader's secret service were kept in a hidden prison managed by a militia when they were questioned by an knowledgeable Libyan investigator.
They assert that in the disorder of the post-uprising time, the center was "the protected place" for the suspect and the additional agents, accounting for the conflict and resistance feeling prevailing at the period.
Interrogation Information
According to the investigator who interrogated the defendant, the center was "efficiently operated", the inmates were not restrained and there were no indications of torture or coercion.
The official has claimed that over 48 hours, a self-assured and well Mas'ud explained his involvement in the attacks of Flight 103.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also claimed he had admitted constructing a explosive which detonated in a German club in the mid-1980s, killing multiple persons, comprising multiple American servicemen, and injuring many others.
Additional Claims
He is also alleged to have recounted his involvement in an conspiracy on the life of an unnamed American diplomatic official at a official ceremony in the Asian country.
The defendant is said to have explained that an individual with the American official was carrying a booby-trapped coat.
It was the defendant's task to detonate the explosive but he chose not to proceed after learning that the man bearing the item did not understand he was on a fatal assignment.
He opted "not to activate the device" even though his superior in the agency being present at the time and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring