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US legal authorities have stated that a Libyan national man freely confessed to being involved in operations directed at Americans, including the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and an unsuccessful conspiracy to assassinate a US government official using a booby-trapped coat.

Confession Information

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

Identified as the defendant, the 74-year-old has asserted that multiple disguised persons compelled him to make the statement after intimidating him and his loved ones.

His attorneys are attempting to block it from being used as testimony in his trial in Washington in the coming year.

Judicial Dispute

In response, attorneys from the US Department of Justice have said they can demonstrate in court that the admission was "voluntary, reliable and truthful."

The availability of the suspect's alleged admission was first made public in 2020, when the American authorities declared it was indicting him with constructing and preparing the explosive device used on Flight 103.

Defendant's Claims

The family man is accused of being a ex- colonel in Libyan intelligence service and has been in American confinement since recent years.

He has stated innocent to the accusations and is scheduled to appear in court at the District Court for the the capital in the coming months.

The defendant's attorneys are attempting to prevent the jury from being informed about the statement and have filed a request asking for it to be excluded.

They contend it was secured under duress following the revolution which toppled the Libyan leader in 2011.

Alleged Pressure

They say ex- members of the dictator's government were being singled out with wrongful killings, kidnappings and torture when the defendant was seized from his residence by armed men the subsequent time.

He was taken to an unregistered detention center where other detainees were allegedly abused and abused and was alone in a tiny space when multiple hooded men handed him a single document of paper.

His legal representatives said its manually written details commenced with an order that he was to acknowledge to the Lockerbie bombing and an additional terror attack.

Major Extremist Events

Mas'ud states he was told to remember what it stated about the incidents and recite it when he was interrogated by someone else the next morning.

Fearing for his safety and that of his family, he said he believed he had no option but to obey.

In their response to the defense's petition, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have declared the judge was being asked to suppress "very significant proof" of the defendant's culpability in "multiple major extremist incidents directed at American people."

Government Rebuttals

They claim the suspect's story of incidents is unconvincing and untrue, and assert that the details of the statement can be supported by trustworthy separate proof assembled over numerous periods.

The prosecutors state the defendant and other previous personnel of the former leader's intelligence service were kept in a secret detention facility operated by a faction when they were questioned by an experienced Libyan law enforcement official.

They assert that in the disorder of the aftermath time, the location was "the safest location" for the suspect and the other personnel, considering the violence and opposition sentiment widespread at the period.

Questioning Details

According to the police officer who interrogated the suspect, the location was "well run", the detainees were not confined and there were no indications of coercion or intimidation.

The investigator has stated that over two days, a self-assured and fit defendant explained his role in the explosions of Flight 103.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also asserted he had confessed building a device which exploded in a Berlin venue in 1986, killing three persons, including several US soldiers, and harming dozens additional.

Further Claims

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

The suspect is alleged to have stated that someone with the US politician was carrying a booby-trapped coat.

It was Mas'ud's mission to activate the bomb but he decided not to act after finding out that the person bearing the garment did not realize he was on a fatal assignment.

He opted "not to activate the button" even though his supervisor in the intelligence service being alongside at the moment and questioning what was {going on|happening|occurring