American Prosecutors Allege Libyan National Freely Admitted to Lockerbie Terrorist Incident
American government attorneys have asserted that a Libyan individual voluntarily confessed to being involved in operations against American targets, comprising the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and an aborted conspiracy to kill a US public figure using a booby-trapped coat.
Admission Details
Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is alleged to have acknowledged his involvement in the deaths of 270 individuals when Pan Am 103 was brought down over the Scotland's town of Lockerbie, during questioning in a Libya's holding center in the year 2012.
Known as Mas'ud, the 74-year-old has claimed that several disguised individuals compelled him to make the confession after menacing him and his family.
His legal representatives are attempting to block it from being utilized as evidence in his trial in the US capital next year.
Judicial Dispute
In response, legal counsel from the federal prosecutors have declared they can demonstrate in legal proceedings that the confession was "willing, trustworthy and truthful."
The presence of the suspect's alleged statement was originally disclosed in the year 2020, when the American authorities announced it was accusing him with creating and priming the IED employed on the aircraft.
Defense Allegations
The family man is charged of being a previous official in Libyan intelligence agency and has been in US confinement since recent years.
He has stated not responsible to the allegations and is scheduled to face trial at the federal court for the District of Columbia in April.
His legal team are working to block the court from hearing about the admission and have filed a request asking for it to be suppressed.
They assert it was acquired under pressure following the revolution which overthrew the Libyan leader in 2011.
Purported Coercion
They claim previous officials of the leader's government were being victimized with unlawful deaths, kidnappings and mistreatment when the suspect was abducted from his home by armed persons the next time.
He was taken to an informal prison facility where additional inmates were reportedly abused and harmed and was by himself in a tiny space when three disguised persons presented him a solitary sheet of material.
His legal representatives claimed its handwritten information started with an command that he was to admit to the Pan Am Flight 103 attack and an additional violent act.
Substantial Terror Attacks
The suspect states he was instructed to remember what it stated about the occurrences and repeat it when he was interviewed by someone else the next time.
Worrying for his well-being and that of his children, he stated he thought he had no alternative but to obey.
In their response to the defendant's motion, legal counsel from the federal prosecutors have stated the court was being petitioned to exclude "very pertinent testimony" of the defendant's responsibility in "two major extremist incidents targeting Americans."
Government Counterarguments
They assert Mas'ud's story of occurrences is unconvincing and inaccurate, and assert that the information of the admission can be supported by reliable separate proof collected over many years.
The legal authorities state the defendant and other ex- members of the dictator's secret service were detained in a covert detention facility run by a faction when they were interviewed by an experienced Libya's police officer.
They assert that in the chaos of the post-uprising era, the facility was "the safest place" for the suspect and the additional operatives, accounting for the violence and opposition attitude dominant at the moment.
Investigation Information
Based to the law enforcement official who questioned the suspect, the facility was "properly managed", the detainees were not bound and there were no evidence of coercion or pressure.
The official has claimed that over two days, a confident and healthy Mas'ud explained his involvement in the explosions of Flight 103.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also claimed he had acknowledged building a bomb which exploded in a West Berlin venue in the mid-1980s, causing the deaths of several persons, encompassing multiple American servicemen, and injuring dozens more.
Other Claims
He is also reported to have detailed his involvement in an plot on the life of an unidentified US diplomatic official at a public event in the Asian country.
Mas'ud is alleged to have stated that someone accompanying the American official was carrying a booby-trapped overcoat.
It was the defendant's task to detonate the bomb but he decided not to act after discovering that the individual carrying the coat did not know he was on a deadly operation.
He opted "not to trigger the device" although his supervisor in the secret service being present at the time and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring