American Prosecuting Attorneys Assert Libyan National Voluntarily Confessed to Pan Am Flight 103 Terrorist Incident
US government attorneys have asserted that a Libyan suspect freely admitted to being involved in attacks targeting US citizens, including the 1988 Lockerbie attack and an aborted plot to target a American politician using a explosive-laden overcoat.
Admission Information
Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is alleged to have confessed his participation in the deaths of 270 individuals when the aircraft was destroyed over the Scotland's community of the region, during questioning in a Libyan prison in the year 2012.
Referred to as the suspect, the 74-year-old has stated that several hooded individuals pressured him to make the admission after intimidating him and his loved ones.
His attorneys are working to stop it from being employed as testimony in his legal proceedings in Washington next year.
Legal Battle
In answer, attorneys from the federal prosecutors have declared they can establish in court that the statement was "unforced, trustworthy and accurate."
The existence of the suspect's purported confession was first disclosed in the year 2020, when the American authorities stated it was accusing him with building and priming the explosive device employed on Flight 103.
Legal Team Assertions
The father-of-six is alleged of being a former official in Libyan secret service and has been in US detention since 2022.
He has pleaded not guilty to the allegations and is scheduled to face trial at the federal court for the the capital in April.
His lawyers are trying to prevent the court from being informed about the statement and have presented a request asking for it to be suppressed.
They assert it was acquired under pressure following the revolution which overthrew Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.
Alleged Coercion
They say former members of the ruler's administration were being singled out with unlawful deaths, seizures and torture when the defendant was taken from his residence by weapon-carrying individuals the next year.
He was moved to an informal holding location where additional detainees were allegedly assaulted and abused and was alone in a tiny space when several hooded persons presented him a single document of documentation.
His lawyers said its handwritten details started with an order that he was to acknowledge to the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and a separate violent act.
Significant Terror Attacks
Mas'ud claims he was instructed to memorise what it said about the occurrences and restate it when he was questioned by a different individual the next time.
Fearing for his well-being and that of his children, he claimed he thought he had no option but to obey.
In their response to the defense's motion, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have said the judge was being requested to suppress "very relevant evidence" of Mas'ud's responsibility in "multiple substantial extremist incidents targeting US citizens."
Government Rebuttals
They say the suspect's account of occurrences is unconvincing and untrue, and argue that the contents of the confession can be corroborated by credible independent evidence assembled over many years.
The legal authorities claim the suspect and fellow previous officials of Gaddafi's intelligence service were detained in a hidden prison managed by a faction when they were interviewed by an knowledgeable Libyan investigator.
They argue that in the disorder of the post-revolution era, the facility was "the safest location" for the defendant and the additional personnel, accounting for the conflict and resistance attitude prevailing at the moment.
Interrogation Information
According to the police officer who interrogated the defendant, the center was "efficiently operated", the inmates were not confined and there were no evidence of abuse or coercion.
The official has claimed that over 48 hours, a composed and fit suspect detailed his participation in the bombings of the aircraft.
The federal authorities has also claimed he had confessed building a bomb which exploded in a West Berlin club in 1986, killing multiple individuals, encompassing two US military personnel, and injuring numerous others.
Additional Accusations
He is also alleged to have described his role in an attempt on the life of an unidentified US foreign minister at a state funeral in the Asian country.
Mas'ud is reported to have described that an individual with the US politician was carrying a rigged garment.
It was the defendant's mission to detonate the bomb but he decided not to act after finding out that the individual bearing the garment did not understand he was on a deadly operation.
He chose "not to trigger the trigger" although his commander in the intelligence service being present at the time and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring