🔗 Share this article

American legal authorities have stated that a Libyan national man voluntarily admitted to taking part in operations directed at US citizens, comprising the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and an unsuccessful plot to assassinate a US government official using a booby-trapped overcoat.

Confession Details

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have acknowledged his role in the murder of 270 victims when the aircraft was brought down over the Scottish community of the region, during questioning in a Libyan prison in the year 2012.

Referred to as the defendant, the 74-year-old has stated that three masked individuals compelled him to deliver the admission after threatening him and his family.

His lawyers are working to block it from being used as proof in his court case in DC in 2025.

Judicial Battle

In answer, attorneys from the American justice department have stated they can demonstrate in court that the confession was "voluntary, reliable and correct."

The availability of the suspect's alleged statement was first disclosed in 2020, when the US stated it was accusing him with constructing and preparing the IED used on Flight 103.

Legal Team Assertions

The defendant is accused of being a ex- high-ranking officer in Libyan intelligence service and has been in US confinement since 2022.

He has stated not guilty to the charges and is expected to face trial at the US court for the the capital in the coming months.

The defendant's lawyers are trying to prevent the jury from being informed about the statement and have submitted a petition asking for it to be suppressed.

They contend it was obtained under pressure following the uprising which overthrew the Libyan leader in 2011.

Purported Coercion

They claim previous personnel of the dictator's government were being targeted with illegal murders, abductions and mistreatment when the suspect was taken from his home by hostile individuals the subsequent period.

He was moved to an unofficial holding location where other prisoners were purportedly abused and mistreated and was by himself in a small room when three disguised persons handed him a one document of material.

His legal representatives stated its handwritten details commenced with an order that he was to acknowledge to the Pan Am Flight 103 incident and a separate violent act.

Major Extremist Attacks

The suspect claims he was instructed to learn what it said about the events and restate it when he was interrogated by someone else the next time.

Fearing for his security and that of his children, he stated he thought he had no option but to comply.

In their answer to the defendant's petition, attorneys from the American justice department have declared the court was being petitioned to suppress "extremely pertinent proof" of the suspect's responsibility in "multiple substantial extremist incidents against American people."

Authorities Counterarguments

They assert the suspect's account of events is unbelievable and untrue, and argue that the information of the statement can be verified by reliable separate testimony collected over many decades.

The legal authorities claim the suspect and fellow previous members of Gaddafi's intelligence agency were kept in a covert detention facility run by a armed group when they were questioned by an knowledgeable Libyan police officer.

They contend that in the disorder of the aftermath period, the facility was "the most secure environment" for the defendant and the fellow agents, given the conflict and opposition feeling dominant at the moment.

Investigation Particulars

According to the investigator who questioned Mas'ud, the facility was "efficiently operated", the prisoners were not confined and there were no signs of coercion or intimidation.

The investigator has stated that over two days, a self-assured and well Mas'ud explained his role in the explosions of Flight 103.

The FBI has also claimed he had admitted building a device which exploded in a German venue in the mid-1980s, killing several individuals, comprising two American soldiers, and injuring many additional.

Other Claims

He is also said to have described his involvement in an plot on the life of an unidentified American foreign minister at a official ceremony in the Asian country.

Mas'ud is alleged to have stated that a person accompanying the US politician was wearing a booby-trapped overcoat.

It was the defendant's mission to detonate the explosive but he opted not to proceed after learning that the person wearing the garment did not realize he was on a suicide mission.

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