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American prosecutors have stated that a Libyan individual freely admitted to participating in operations against US citizens, encompassing the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 attack and an failed attempt to assassinate a US government official using a explosive-laden coat.

Statement Information

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have acknowledged his role in the killing of 270 victims when the aircraft was brought down over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, during interrogation in a Libyan detention facility in the year 2012.

Known as Mas'ud, the senior individual has claimed that three hooded men forced him to provide the statement after threatening him and his relatives.

His attorneys are working to stop it from being used as proof in his court case in the US capital in the coming year.

Courtroom Conflict

In reply, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have stated they can prove in the courtroom that the statement was "voluntary, reliable and truthful."

The availability of Mas'ud's purported statement was first made public in 2020, when the US announced it was charging him with building and priming the bomb employed on Pan Am 103.

Defendant's Allegations

The defendant is alleged of being a former colonel in Libya's intelligence service and has been in US confinement since recent years.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is scheduled to stand trial at the US court for the District of Columbia in April.

The defendant's lawyers are attempting to stop the jury from hearing about the admission and have submitted a motion asking for it to be withheld.

They argue it was obtained under pressure following the revolution which overthrew Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

Alleged Pressure

They claim former personnel of the ruler's administration were being targeted with illegal murders, abductions and abuse when the suspect was taken from his dwelling by hostile persons the next year.

He was moved to an unofficial holding location where other detainees were reportedly beaten and abused and was isolated in a cramped cell when three hooded persons presented him a solitary document of paper.

His attorneys said its handwritten contents commenced with an instruction that he was to acknowledge to the Pan Am Flight 103 attack and an additional terrorist incident.

Substantial Terror Incidents

The defendant claims he was instructed to learn what it indicated about the events and repeat it when he was interrogated by someone else the subsequent morning.

Being concerned for his safety and that of his offspring, he said he thought he had no alternative but to obey.

In their response to the defendant's request, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have declared the tribunal was being requested to suppress "highly significant evidence" of the defendant's culpability in "two significant terrorist incidents targeting US citizens."

Authorities Responses

They say the defendant's version of events is unbelievable and false, and argue that the contents of the admission can be corroborated by credible external evidence collected over numerous periods.

The prosecutors claim the defendant and other former officials of the dictator's secret service were kept in a secret holding center managed by a faction when they were interviewed by an experienced Libyan investigator.

They assert that in the chaos of the post-revolution time, the location was "the protected place" for Mas'ud and the other operatives, accounting for the violence and opposition feeling widespread at the period.

Interrogation Particulars

Based to the police officer who questioned Mas'ud, the facility was "efficiently operated", the inmates were not bound and there were no indications of coercion or coercion.

The investigator has claimed that over two days, a confident and well suspect detailed his involvement in the bombings of the aircraft.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also stated he had acknowledged building a device which exploded in a West Berlin nightclub in the mid-1980s, killing three individuals, encompassing two American soldiers, and injuring dozens additional.

Further Accusations

He is also said to have recounted his role in an plot on the safety of an unidentified American Secretary of State at a state funeral in the Asian country.

Mas'ud is alleged to have described that an individual accompanying the American politician was wearing a explosive-laden coat.

It was the defendant's assignment to detonate the explosive but he opted not to proceed after finding out that the man bearing the item did not realize he was on a deadly operation.

He chose "not to activate the button" although his supervisor in the agency being present at the period and asking what was {going on|happening|occurring