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US prosecutors have asserted that a Libyan national suspect voluntarily confessed to taking part in terrorist acts targeting US citizens, including the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and an aborted attempt to assassinate a American public figure using a explosive-laden garment.

Confession Details

Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is reported to have admitted his participation in the murder of 270 people when Flight 103 was destroyed over the Scotland's town of Lockerbie, during questioning in a Libyan holding center in 2012.

Referred to as Mas'ud, the senior individual has claimed that several masked persons forced him to deliver the confession after intimidating him and his loved ones.

His attorneys are trying to stop it from being utilized as evidence in his trial in Washington in the coming year.

Courtroom Conflict

In answer, lawyers from the US Department of Justice have said they can demonstrate in court that the statement was "willing, reliable and accurate."

The existence of Mas'ud's claimed admission was first disclosed in 2020, when the American authorities stated it was accusing him with constructing and priming the IED employed on Pan Am 103.

Defendant's Claims

The family man is accused of being a previous high-ranking officer in Libyan intelligence agency and has been in US detention since 2022.

He has pleaded not responsible to the allegations and is expected to face trial at the District Court for the Washington DC in spring.

Mas'ud's lawyers are trying to prevent the jury from hearing about the statement and have presented a petition asking for it to be excluded.

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

Alleged Intimidation

They assert previous officials of the dictator's regime were being victimized with unlawful killings, abductions and abuse when the suspect was taken from his home by hostile men the following year.

He was moved to an unregistered holding location where other prisoners were allegedly assaulted and harmed and was isolated in a cramped room when multiple masked men handed him a single document of paper.

His attorneys stated its manually written details started with an instruction that he was to confess to the Lockerbie bombing and an additional terror attack.

Substantial Terrorist Incidents

The suspect claims he was told to remember what it indicated about the events and restate it when he was questioned by a different individual the subsequent day.

Fearing for his safety and that of his offspring, he stated he believed he had no option but to acquiesce.

In their reply to the legal team's motion, attorneys from the American justice department have said the court was being petitioned to withhold "extremely relevant testimony" of the defendant's culpability in "two substantial extremist incidents targeting American people."

Prosecution Responses

They claim the defendant's story of events is unconvincing and false, and argue that the information of the admission can be supported by reliable independent evidence gathered over several periods.

The government attorneys state the defendant and fellow previous personnel of the former leader's intelligence service were detained in a secret prison run by a militia when they were interviewed by an knowledgeable Libya's police officer.

They argue that in the turmoil of the post-uprising era, the location was "the safest environment" for the suspect and the fellow operatives, given the hostility and resistance attitude widespread at the moment.

Investigation Particulars

According to the law enforcement official who interviewed Mas'ud, the facility was "efficiently operated", the prisoners were not bound and there were no evidence of coercion or pressure.

The investigator has stated that over two days, a self-assured and well Mas'ud explained his participation in the explosions of Flight 103.

The federal authorities has also asserted he had confessed creating a explosive which detonated in a Berlin nightclub in the mid-1980s, killing several people, comprising two US military personnel, and wounding dozens others.

Other Allegations

He is also alleged to have recounted his role in an plot on the life of an anonymous US foreign minister at a official ceremony in Pakistan.

The defendant is said to have described that someone travelling the US official was wearing a rigged overcoat.

It was the suspect's mission to detonate the bomb but he decided not to proceed after learning that the man bearing the garment did not realize he was on a deadly operation.

He decided "not to push the device" although his superior in the secret service being with him at the time and inquiring what was {going on|happening|occurring