US Prosecuting Attorneys Assert Libyan Willingly Confessed to Pan Am Flight 103 Attack

US prosecutors have asserted that a Libyan national suspect freely admitted to taking part in terrorist acts directed at Americans, including the 1988's Lockerbie bombing and an aborted plot to kill a US politician using a explosive-laden coat.

Admission Details

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is reported to have confessed his participation in the murder of 270 people when Flight 103 was brought down over the Scotland's community of the region, during interviewing in a Libya's detention facility in 2012.

Known as the defendant, the 74-year-old has claimed that multiple hooded persons compelled him to deliver the confession after intimidating him and his loved ones.

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 federal prosecutors have declared they can demonstrate in court that the admission was "voluntary, credible and accurate."

The availability of the defendant's claimed statement was originally revealed in 2020, when the United States declared it was indicting him with creating and preparing the explosive device employed on the aircraft.

Legal Team Allegations

The defendant is alleged of being a ex- colonel in Libya's intelligence service and has been in US confinement since 2022.

He has stated innocent to the allegations and is due to appear in court at the federal court for the the capital in the coming months.

His legal team are trying to stop the court from being informed about the confession and have presented a motion asking for it to be withheld.

They contend it was secured under pressure following the uprising which toppled the Libyan leader in 2011.

Purported Intimidation

They assert former officials of the ruler's government were being targeted with wrongful murders, seizures and abuse when the defendant was taken from his dwelling by armed individuals the next time.

He was taken to an informal detention center where other inmates were reportedly beaten and harmed and was by himself in a tiny space when several hooded individuals presented him a one document of paper.

His attorneys said its manually written details started with an order that he was to admit to the Pan Am Flight 103 attack and a separate terror attack.

Major Terror Events

The defendant claims he was told to learn what it stated about the incidents and recite it when he was interviewed by another person the following time.

Worrying for his security and that of his family, he claimed he believed he had no option but to comply.

In their answer to the defendant's petition, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have declared the tribunal was being petitioned to withhold "very relevant evidence" of the defendant's culpability in "multiple substantial terror attacks against Americans."

Authorities Counterarguments

They say Mas'ud's story of occurrences is unbelievable and untrue, and argue that the contents of the admission can be corroborated by credible independent evidence collected over numerous decades.

The government attorneys say the suspect and other former personnel of the former leader's intelligence service were held in a secret detention facility run by a militia when they were interviewed by an experienced Libyan police officer.

They assert that in the disorder of the post-revolution era, the location was "the most secure place" for Mas'ud and the other personnel, given the conflict and resistance feeling dominant at the period.

Interrogation Details

Based to the police officer who interviewed the suspect, the facility was "efficiently operated", the detainees were not bound and there were no evidence of abuse or pressure.

The officer has said that over two days, a self-assured and fit Mas'ud detailed his role in the explosions of Pan Am 103.

The FBI has also claimed he had admitted constructing a device which went off in a West Berlin venue in 1986, causing the deaths of several people, including multiple American servicemen, and harming dozens more.

Additional Accusations

He is also reported to have detailed his involvement in an plot on the safety of an unnamed US diplomatic official at a public event in the Asian country.

The defendant is alleged to have stated that someone accompanying the US politician was carrying a rigged garment.

It was the suspect's mission to detonate the explosive but he opted not to act after discovering that the person wearing the garment did not understand he was on a suicide mission.

He opted "not to push the device" even though his commander in the agency being with him at the time and asking what was {going on|happening|occurring