American Prosecutors Assert Libyan Voluntarily Admitted to Lockerbie Terrorist Incident
US prosecutors have asserted that a Libyan national individual voluntarily confessed to participating in attacks directed at American targets, including the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 incident and an aborted conspiracy to assassinate a American politician using a rigged coat.
Confession Details
Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have acknowledged his role in the deaths of 270 individuals when Flight 103 was destroyed over the Scotland's town of the region, during interviewing in a Libyan holding center in the year 2012.
Known as the suspect, the senior individual has claimed that three masked men forced him to provide the admission after intimidating him and his family.
His legal representatives are attempting to block it from being employed as proof in his legal proceedings in Washington next year.
Legal Conflict
In reply, lawyers from the American justice department have declared they can demonstrate in the courtroom that the confession was "voluntary, credible and accurate."
The existence of the defendant's purported admission was initially revealed in the year 2020, when the US declared it was charging him with creating and priming the IED employed on Pan Am 103.
Legal Team Allegations
The family man is alleged of being a ex- official in Libyan secret service and has been in American confinement since recent years.
He has pleaded innocent to the allegations and is scheduled to appear in court at the US court for the the capital in the coming months.
The defendant's lawyers are working to prevent the trial from being informed about the admission and have filed a motion asking for it to be suppressed.
They contend it was obtained under coercion following the overthrow which toppled the former dictator in the early 2010s.
Purported Coercion
They say previous officials of the ruler's administration were being singled out with illegal deaths, seizures and torture when Mas'ud was abducted from his dwelling by hostile individuals the next period.
He was transported to an unofficial prison facility where fellow prisoners were purportedly abused and harmed and was alone in a small cell when three masked persons gave him a solitary sheet of documentation.
His lawyers claimed its manually written contents commenced with an instruction that he was to confess to the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and a separate terrorist incident.
Major Terrorist Attacks
The defendant claims he was told to memorise what it stated about the incidents and restate it when he was interrogated by someone else the next morning.
Being concerned for his well-being and that of his offspring, he said he believed he had no alternative but to obey.
In their response to the defense's request, attorneys from the US Department of Justice have said the court was being requested to suppress "highly relevant testimony" of Mas'ud's responsibility in "two significant terror incidents directed at Americans."
Prosecution Responses
They claim the defendant's version of occurrences is implausible and untrue, and assert that the details of the admission can be verified by trustworthy separate evidence assembled over several decades.
The prosecutors say the suspect and other ex- members of the dictator's secret service were kept in a secret holding center operated by a faction when they were interviewed by an seasoned Libyan police officer.
They contend that in the chaos of the post-revolution time, the center was "the most secure environment" for the suspect and the other personnel, considering the conflict and opposition sentiment dominant at the period.
Questioning Details
Per to the investigator who interrogated Mas'ud, the location was "properly managed", the inmates were not confined and there were no signs of torture or pressure.
The officer has stated that over 48 hours, a composed and fit defendant explained his participation in the bombings of Flight 103.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also asserted he had admitted building a explosive which exploded in a German nightclub in 1986, killing multiple individuals, comprising several American servicemen, and harming dozens more.
Other Allegations
He is also reported to have described his participation in an attempt on the safety of an unnamed US diplomatic official at a state funeral in Pakistan.
The suspect is alleged to have described that an individual travelling the American official was wearing a booby-trapped garment.
It was the suspect's task to activate the explosive but he chose not to act after discovering that the individual carrying the garment did not understand he was on a suicide mission.
He opted "not to trigger the button" despite his commander in the secret service being with him at the time and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring