🔗 Share this article American Prosecutors Claim Libyan National Voluntarily Confessed to Lockerbie Bombing The Lockerbie attack killed 270 people in the late 1980s US government attorneys have stated that a Libyan national man freely admitted to being involved in attacks directed at US citizens, encompassing the 1988's Lockerbie bombing and an failed attempt to assassinate a American public figure using a rigged overcoat. Confession Information Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have acknowledged his role in the deaths of 270 people when Pan Am 103 was exploded over the Scottish community of Lockerbie, during questioning in a Libya's prison in 2012. Known as the defendant, the elderly man has stated that multiple masked persons pressured him to make the admission after menacing him and his loved ones. His attorneys are trying to prevent it from being employed as testimony in his trial in Washington next year. Legal Battle In reply, attorneys from the US Department of Justice have stated they can prove in court that the confession was "unforced, reliable and truthful." The existence of the suspect's claimed confession was initially revealed in 2020, when the US stated it was charging him with building and activating the IED utilized on Pan Am 103. Defense Assertions The family man is charged of being a former official in Libya's intelligence service and has been in US confinement since 2022. He has pleaded innocent to the charges and is due to face trial at the US court for the Washington DC in spring. The defendant's attorneys are attempting to prevent the trial from learning about the statement and have submitted a petition asking for it to be suppressed. They assert it was secured under coercion following the uprising which toppled Colonel Gaddafi in the early 2010s. Claimed Intimidation They claim ex- members of the dictator's government were being targeted with unlawful deaths, kidnappings and abuse when the defendant was abducted from his residence by weapon-carrying persons the next year. He was transported to an unregistered prison facility where additional prisoners were allegedly assaulted and harmed and was by himself in a tiny space when several hooded individuals presented him a single document of paper. His legal representatives stated its handwritten contents started with an order that he was to admit to the Pan Am Flight 103 attack and another terror attack. Significant Extremist Attacks Mas'ud asserts he was ordered to remember what it said about the incidents and repeat it when he was interviewed by another person the next morning. Worrying for his security and that of his children, he claimed he believed he had no choice but to obey. In their reply to the legal team's petition, legal counsel from the federal prosecutors have declared the judge was being asked to suppress "very pertinent evidence" of the defendant's guilt in "several substantial terror events against Americans." Prosecution Rebuttals They claim Mas'ud's account of incidents is implausible and false, and assert that the information of the statement can be supported by trustworthy independent testimony gathered over several years. The legal authorities claim the suspect and fellow previous officials of Gaddafi's intelligence agency were detained in a covert detention facility managed by a faction when they were questioned by an experienced Libyan law enforcement official. They assert that in the disorder of the post-uprising time, the location was "the safest location" for the suspect and the additional agents, given the conflict and opposition attitude widespread at the period. Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi has been in detention since recent years Investigation Particulars Based to the police officer who questioned Mas'ud, the location was "efficiently operated", the inmates were not restrained and there were no signs of coercion or intimidation. The official has stated that over two days, a self-assured and healthy defendant detailed his involvement in the explosions of the aircraft. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also stated he had confessed constructing a explosive which detonated in a West Berlin venue in 1986, causing the deaths of three individuals, including several American servicemen, and injuring dozens additional. Further Accusations He is also reported to have detailed his participation in an conspiracy on the lives of an unidentified US foreign minister at a state funeral in Pakistan. The suspect is said to have stated that an individual accompanying the US official was carrying a booby-trapped garment. It was the defendant's assignment to trigger the explosive but he decided not to act after finding out that the man carrying the garment did not understand he was on a suicide mission. He decided "not to trigger the device" despite his superior in the agency being alongside at the period and questioning what was {going on|happening|occurring