🔗 Share this article

American government attorneys have stated that a Libyan suspect willingly admitted to participating in attacks targeting Americans, comprising the 1988's Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and an aborted attempt to assassinate a American public figure using a explosive-laden coat.

Confession Information

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have acknowledged his participation in the deaths of 270 individuals when Flight 103 was brought down over the Scottish area of the region, during questioning in a Libya's prison in 2012.

Known as the defendant, the senior individual has stated that multiple hooded individuals compelled him to deliver the admission after intimidating him and his family.

His lawyers are working to block it from being employed as proof in his legal proceedings in Washington in 2025.

Courtroom Dispute

In answer, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have said they can demonstrate in the courtroom that the admission was "unforced, credible and accurate."

The existence of the suspect's alleged statement was originally made public in 2020, when the United States declared it was charging him with building and preparing the explosive device employed on Pan Am 103.

Defendant's Claims

The defendant is charged of being a ex- colonel in Libyan intelligence agency and has been in American detention since 2022.

He has pleaded not guilty to the accusations and is due to stand trial at the federal court for the District of Columbia in April.

Mas'ud's attorneys are trying to prevent the trial from being informed about the statement and have submitted a petition asking for it to be suppressed.

They assert it was acquired under duress following the uprising which removed the former dictator in 2011.

Claimed Coercion

They claim former personnel of the ruler's government were being victimized with illegal murders, abductions and mistreatment when the defendant was abducted from his home by hostile men the subsequent period.

He was moved to an unofficial holding location where other prisoners were purportedly abused and harmed and was by himself in a tiny cell when several masked men handed him a single document of documentation.

His lawyers said its scripted details started with an command that he was to admit to the Pan Am Flight 103 attack and a separate terrorist incident.

Major Extremist Attacks

The suspect asserts he was ordered to memorise what it said about the occurrences and restate it when he was questioned by a different individual the following time.

Fearing for his security and that of his family, he said he believed he had no alternative but to acquiesce.

In their response to the defendant's request, legal counsel from the federal prosecutors have declared the court was being requested to exclude "very relevant proof" of Mas'ud's guilt in "multiple major terror events targeting US citizens."

Prosecution Responses

They say the defendant's story of occurrences is implausible and false, and argue that the details of the admission can be supported by trustworthy independent testimony gathered over numerous years.

The legal authorities claim the defendant and additional ex- officials of the dictator's secret service were held in a covert detention facility run by a militia when they were interviewed by an seasoned Libya's police officer.

They assert that in the chaos of the post-uprising period, the center was "the safest place" for Mas'ud and the other personnel, accounting for the conflict and anti-Gaddafi sentiment widespread at the period.

Questioning Details

Based to the law enforcement official who interviewed the defendant, the location was "efficiently operated", the inmates were not bound and there were no signs of coercion or intimidation.

The investigator has said that over two days, a confident and healthy defendant detailed his involvement in the attacks of the aircraft.

The federal authorities has also stated he had acknowledged constructing a bomb which detonated in a German nightclub in the mid-1980s, killing several individuals, encompassing several American servicemen, and injuring dozens additional.

Other Allegations

He is also reported to have detailed his role in an conspiracy on the safety of an unidentified American diplomatic official at a official ceremony in the Asian country.

Mas'ud is reported to have explained that a person accompanying the US politician was bearing a booby-trapped coat.

It was the suspect's mission to activate the explosive but he decided not to act after learning that the individual wearing the coat did not realize he was on a suicide mission.

He opted "not to activate the button" although his superior in the intelligence service being with him at the time and questioning what was {going on|happening|occurring