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American prosecutors have stated that a Libyan national suspect willingly confessed to taking part in attacks against US citizens, encompassing the 1988 Lockerbie attack and an aborted plot to kill a US politician using a rigged overcoat.

Statement Information

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is reported to have confessed his participation in the deaths of 270 people when Pan Am 103 was exploded over the Scotland's community of Lockerbie, during questioning in a Libyan prison in 2012.

Known as the defendant, the elderly man has stated that several hooded persons pressured him to make the confession after threatening him and his relatives.

His legal representatives are trying to block it from being utilized as testimony in his legal proceedings in DC in 2025.

Courtroom Dispute

In reply, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have declared they can demonstrate in the courtroom that the confession was "unforced, reliable and truthful."

The existence of the suspect's purported confession was originally revealed in the year 2020, when the American authorities declared it was charging him with building and preparing the explosive device employed on Pan Am 103.

Defense Claims

The defendant is alleged of being a previous colonel in Libyan intelligence service and has been in American custody since 2022.

He has pleaded not guilty to the allegations and is scheduled to stand trial at the US court for the the capital in April.

The defendant's legal team are trying to block the jury from hearing about the statement and have presented a motion asking for it to be suppressed.

They argue it was secured under duress following the overthrow which toppled Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.

Claimed Pressure

They assert previous personnel of the ruler's regime were being singled out with illegal deaths, seizures and abuse when Mas'ud was seized from his residence by armed men the following time.

He was moved to an unofficial prison facility where other prisoners were purportedly beaten and abused and was alone in a tiny space when several hooded men handed him a solitary page of material.

His lawyers said its scripted information commenced with an instruction that he was to confess to the Lockerbie bombing and a separate violent act.

Significant Extremist Incidents

The suspect claims he was ordered to remember what it stated about the events and recite it when he was questioned by another person the subsequent morning.

Worrying 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 petition, lawyers from the American justice department have declared the court was being requested to exclude "extremely pertinent evidence" of the suspect's culpability in "two significant terrorist attacks targeting US citizens."

Authorities Responses

They claim the suspect's account of events is implausible and inaccurate, and assert that the contents of the admission can be supported by reliable external evidence assembled over several periods.

The legal authorities say the suspect and additional ex- officials of the former leader's secret service were held in a secret prison operated by a militia when they were interviewed by an experienced Libya's investigator.

They argue that in the disorder of the post-uprising era, the center was "the safest environment" for the suspect and the fellow personnel, given the conflict and opposition attitude widespread at the period.

Questioning Details

Per to the law enforcement official who interviewed Mas'ud, the location was "properly managed", the inmates were not restrained and there were no signs of coercion or pressure.

The officer has said that over multiple sessions, a composed and fit defendant described his role in the attacks of the aircraft.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also asserted he had confessed building a device which went off in a German venue in 1986, causing the deaths of several people, comprising two American servicemen, and injuring dozens additional.

Other Claims

He is also said to have recounted his role in an attempt on the lives of an anonymous US Secretary of State at a public event in Pakistan.

The defendant is reported to have described that someone travelling the US figure was wearing a rigged coat.

It was the defendant's mission to detonate the bomb but he decided not to act after discovering that the man wearing the coat did not know he was on a fatal assignment.

He decided "not to push the button" although his supervisor in the intelligence service being present at the moment and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring