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US government attorneys have claimed that a Libyan national suspect freely admitted to participating in attacks directed at Americans, comprising the 1988's Lockerbie bombing and an aborted conspiracy to assassinate a American politician using a explosive-laden garment.

Statement Particulars

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is alleged to have confessed his role in the deaths of 270 people when the aircraft was exploded over the Scotland's area of Lockerbie, during questioning in a Libya's prison in 2012.

Known as the suspect, the 74-year-old has asserted that three hooded persons compelled him to deliver the confession after threatening him and his loved ones.

His legal representatives are working to block it from being utilized as evidence in his court case in Washington next year.

Legal Dispute

In answer, attorneys from the American justice department have stated they can establish in the courtroom that the statement was "willing, reliable and truthful."

The availability of the suspect's alleged statement was initially revealed in 2020, when the US stated it was charging him with constructing and preparing the IED employed on the aircraft.

Legal Team Assertions

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

He has pleaded not responsible to the accusations and is expected to face trial at the District Court for the the capital in spring.

Mas'ud's lawyers are trying to stop the jury from learning about the admission and have presented a petition asking for it to be excluded.

They argue it was acquired under pressure following the revolution which removed Colonel Gaddafi in the early 2010s.

Purported Pressure

They claim ex- officials of the dictator's administration were being victimized with wrongful murders, abductions and torture when the defendant was taken from his home by armed men the next year.

He was taken to an unregistered holding location where other prisoners were reportedly assaulted and harmed and was by himself in a small space when three masked persons handed him a one sheet of material.

His lawyers claimed its handwritten contents started with an instruction that he was to acknowledge to the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing and an additional terror attack.

Significant Terrorist Attacks

The suspect asserts he was told to learn what it stated about the occurrences and recite it when he was interrogated by another person the next day.

Fearing for his security and that of his children, he said he believed he had no option but to comply.

In their response to the legal team's motion, attorneys from the US Department of Justice have stated the tribunal was being petitioned to exclude "very relevant proof" of the defendant's responsibility in "two significant extremist events directed at Americans."

Authorities Responses

They say Mas'ud's story of events is unbelievable and inaccurate, and contend that the details of the statement can be corroborated by trustworthy external proof assembled over several periods.

The legal authorities claim the suspect and additional previous members of Gaddafi's intelligence service were held in a covert holding center run by a militia when they were interviewed by an knowledgeable Libya's police officer.

They assert that in the disorder of the post-revolution period, the facility was "the safest location" for the suspect and the other operatives, considering the hostility and opposition feeling prevailing at the period.

Investigation Information

Per to the investigator who interrogated the defendant, the facility was "efficiently operated", the detainees were not bound and there were no evidence of abuse or coercion.

The officer has claimed that over multiple sessions, a confident and well defendant explained his role in the attacks of the aircraft.

The federal authorities has also asserted he had admitted creating a explosive which detonated in a West Berlin venue in 1986, claiming the lives of multiple people, comprising two US servicemen, and injuring dozens additional.

Further Claims

He is also alleged to have recounted his involvement in an plot on the life of an anonymous American foreign minister at a official ceremony in the Asian country.

Mas'ud is said to have stated that someone accompanying the US politician was carrying a booby-trapped garment.

It was the defendant's mission to trigger the explosive but he chose not to do so after learning that the man bearing the coat did not realize he was on a fatal assignment.

He opted "not to push the button" although his supervisor in the agency being alongside at the time and asking what was {going on|happening|occurring