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American prosecutors have stated that a Libyan suspect voluntarily confessed to being involved in operations targeting US citizens, including the 1988's Pan Am Flight 103 incident and an aborted attempt to assassinate a US government official using a booby-trapped garment.

Confession Details

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is alleged to have admitted his involvement in the murder of 270 victims when Flight 103 was brought down over the Scotland's area of Lockerbie, during interviewing in a Libya's holding center in the year 2012.

Identified as the defendant, the senior individual has stated that multiple disguised persons pressured him to make the confession after menacing him and his relatives.

His lawyers are trying to stop it from being employed as testimony in his court case in Washington next year.

Judicial Battle

In reply, legal counsel from the American justice department have said they can establish in court that the statement was "unforced, reliable and truthful."

The presence of the suspect's purported statement was first disclosed in the year 2020, when the US declared it was indicting him with creating and preparing the IED used on Flight 103.

Defendant's Allegations

The defendant is charged of being a former high-ranking officer in Libyan intelligence agency and has been in US custody since recent years.

He has stated not guilty to the accusations and is due to appear in court at the District Court for the Washington DC in spring.

His legal team are attempting to prevent the jury from learning about the confession and have filed a request asking for it to be excluded.

They argue it was secured under coercion following the revolution which toppled Colonel Gaddafi in the early 2010s.

Claimed Coercion

They claim ex- officials of the dictator's administration were being singled out with illegal killings, kidnappings and abuse when Mas'ud was taken from his home by armed men the next time.

He was taken to an unregistered prison facility where other detainees were reportedly abused and abused and was isolated in a tiny space when three masked men handed him a one page of documentation.

His lawyers claimed its scripted contents commenced with an order that he was to confess to the Lockerbie attack and an additional violent act.

Substantial Terror Incidents

The suspect asserts he was told to memorise what it indicated about the incidents and repeat it when he was questioned by a different individual the following morning.

Being concerned for his well-being and that of his offspring, he stated he believed he had no option but to obey.

In their response to the legal team's request, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have declared the court was being asked to withhold "extremely significant testimony" of the defendant's culpability in "two substantial terrorist attacks directed at US citizens."

Prosecution Responses

They assert the suspect's story of occurrences is unconvincing and inaccurate, and argue that the details of the statement can be supported by trustworthy external proof collected over numerous periods.

The prosecutors state Mas'ud and fellow previous members of Gaddafi's intelligence service were kept in a covert prison operated by a militia when they were questioned by an seasoned Libyan investigator.

They contend that in the turmoil of the post-revolution period, the location was "the safest place" for the defendant and the additional agents, given the violence and opposition sentiment dominant at the time.

Questioning Particulars

According to the police officer who questioned Mas'ud, the center was "properly managed", the inmates were not restrained and there were no evidence of abuse or coercion.

The investigator has stated that over 48 hours, a confident and healthy defendant described his role in the attacks of the aircraft.

The federal authorities has also stated he had acknowledged building a device which went off in a Berlin club in the mid-1980s, claiming the lives of three people, encompassing several American servicemen, and injuring numerous others.

Additional Claims

He is also reported to have described his participation in an attempt on the life of an unidentified US Secretary of State at a state funeral in the Asian country.

Mas'ud is alleged to have stated that a person with the US politician was bearing a booby-trapped coat.

It was the suspect's assignment to detonate the explosive but he chose not to proceed after learning that the individual wearing the item did not understand he was on a deadly operation.

He chose "not to trigger the trigger" even though his supervisor in the agency being with him at the period and asking what was {going on|happening|occurring