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American prosecutors have stated that a Libyan national individual willingly confessed to participating in operations targeting American targets, comprising the 1988's Pan Am Flight 103 incident and an aborted attempt to kill a US public figure using a booby-trapped overcoat.

Admission Information

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is said to have acknowledged his participation in the killing of 270 victims when Flight 103 was destroyed over the Scottish area of Lockerbie, during interviewing in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.

Identified as the defendant, the 74-year-old has asserted that three hooded men forced him to make the statement after intimidating him and his loved ones.

His legal representatives are trying to block it from being used as evidence in his legal proceedings in the US capital in 2025.

Legal Dispute

In response, attorneys from the federal prosecutors have declared they can demonstrate in legal proceedings that the confession was "unforced, reliable and correct."

The existence of the defendant's alleged confession was originally disclosed in the year 2020, when the US declared it was accusing him with creating and preparing the explosive device used on the aircraft.

Defense Claims

The family man is charged of being a previous colonel in Libya's secret service and has been in US custody since recent years.

He has stated innocent to the accusations and is due to appear in court at the federal court for the District of Columbia in spring.

Mas'ud's legal team are working to prevent the jury from learning about the admission and have presented a petition asking for it to be suppressed.

They argue it was secured under pressure following the revolution which toppled the Libyan leader in 2011.

Alleged Intimidation

They say ex- officials of the dictator's administration were being targeted with unlawful murders, kidnappings and mistreatment when the defendant was taken from his home by weapon-carrying men the following year.

He was moved to an unregistered holding location where other inmates were purportedly beaten and abused and was by himself in a small space when three disguised individuals presented him a single sheet of documentation.

His legal representatives stated its scripted contents began with an command that he was to acknowledge to the Lockerbie incident and an additional terrorist incident.

Substantial Extremist Events

The suspect states he was instructed to memorise what it said about the events and restate it when he was interviewed by another person the next day.

Being concerned for his security and that of his children, he claimed he thought he had no option but to obey.

In their reply to the defense's request, lawyers from the American justice department have declared the tribunal was being petitioned to suppress "very significant proof" of the suspect's responsibility in "two major terrorist events directed at Americans."

Government Responses

They claim the defendant's version of occurrences is implausible and false, and contend that the information of the confession can be verified by trustworthy separate proof collected over several periods.

The prosecutors claim Mas'ud and fellow former officials of the dictator's intelligence agency were detained in a covert prison operated by a armed group when they were interrogated by an knowledgeable Libya's police officer.

They assert that in the chaos of the post-uprising time, the location was "the most secure environment" for Mas'ud and the other agents, accounting for the conflict and opposition feeling prevailing at the moment.

Questioning Information

Based to the police officer who interviewed Mas'ud, the location was "efficiently operated", the prisoners were not restrained and there were no signs of torture or coercion.

The investigator has said that over multiple sessions, a confident and healthy Mas'ud explained his role in the bombings of Flight 103.

The federal authorities has also stated he had acknowledged creating a bomb which exploded in a German club in 1986, killing several persons, comprising multiple US soldiers, and harming dozens more.

Additional Accusations

He is also reported to have detailed his involvement in an conspiracy on the lives of an anonymous US foreign minister at a state funeral in Pakistan.

Mas'ud is alleged to have explained that someone accompanying the US official was wearing a rigged garment.

It was the suspect's mission to trigger the explosive but he chose not to do so after finding out that the man carrying the coat did not understand he was on a fatal assignment.

He decided "not to activate the device" despite his superior in the secret service being alongside at the time and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring