🔗 Share this article US Prosecutors Claim Libyan National Freely Admitted to Lockerbie Terrorist Incident The Pan Am Flight 103 bombing claimed the lives of 270 victims in 1988 American legal authorities have stated that a Libyan suspect voluntarily admitted to being involved in terrorist acts directed at American targets, including the 1988 Lockerbie attack and an failed plot to kill a American government official using a rigged coat. Admission Details Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is reported to have confessed his involvement in the deaths of 270 victims when the aircraft was exploded over the Scottish area of the region, during interrogation in a Libya's prison in 2012. Known as Mas'ud, the 74-year-old has asserted that several hooded individuals compelled him to provide the statement after intimidating him and his loved ones. His lawyers are attempting to stop it from being used as evidence in his court case in Washington in 2025. Judicial Conflict In reply, attorneys from the federal prosecutors have stated they can demonstrate in court that the confession was "unforced, credible and accurate." The availability of the defendant's purported confession was first revealed in 2020, when the American authorities announced it was indicting him with creating and priming the IED utilized on the aircraft. Defense Assertions The father-of-six is charged of being a previous colonel in Libya's intelligence agency and has been in US confinement since 2022. He has pleaded innocent to the accusations and is due to appear in court at the federal court for the the capital in April. His attorneys are attempting to block the jury from being informed about the confession and have submitted a motion asking for it to be withheld. They assert it was secured under pressure following the uprising which toppled the former dictator in 2011. Alleged Pressure They say ex- members of the dictator's regime were being singled out with illegal killings, seizures and abuse when the defendant was seized from his dwelling by hostile individuals the next period. He was taken to an informal prison facility where other inmates were purportedly beaten and mistreated and was by himself in a small cell when multiple hooded individuals handed him a solitary page of documentation. His attorneys claimed its scripted details commenced with an order that he was to admit to the Pan Am Flight 103 incident and a separate terror attack. Substantial Terror Attacks The suspect states he was ordered to learn what it stated about the events and repeat it when he was interviewed by someone else the following time. Worrying for his safety and that of his offspring, he stated he thought he had no choice but to acquiesce. In their response to the defense's petition, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have declared the judge was being asked to suppress "extremely significant proof" of the suspect's responsibility in "several substantial terrorist attacks directed at US citizens." Government Responses They assert Mas'ud's story of events is unbelievable and untrue, and assert that the contents of the confession can be corroborated by credible separate proof assembled over several years. The legal authorities claim the suspect and fellow former personnel of Gaddafi's secret service were held in a secret holding center operated by a armed group when they were interviewed by an experienced Libya's law enforcement official. They contend that in the chaos of the post-revolution period, the location was "the protected location" for the suspect and the additional agents, given the violence and resistance attitude dominant at the period. Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi has been in detention since recent years Questioning Details Based to the police officer who questioned Mas'ud, the center was "efficiently operated", the prisoners were not restrained and there were no signs of abuse or intimidation. The officer has stated that over 48 hours, a self-assured and fit suspect explained his involvement in the bombings of the aircraft. The federal authorities has also claimed he had admitted constructing a bomb which detonated in a Berlin nightclub in 1986, killing multiple persons, comprising several US military personnel, and harming many more. Additional Allegations He is also reported to have detailed his participation in an plot on the lives of an anonymous US foreign minister at a state funeral in Pakistan. Mas'ud is alleged to have described that a person travelling the American politician was bearing a rigged overcoat. It was the suspect's mission to activate the explosive but he opted not to act after finding out that the individual bearing the coat did not understand he was on a fatal assignment. He opted "not to push the trigger" despite his superior in the secret service being with him at the time and asking what was {going on|happening|occurring