US government attorneys have stated that a Libyan national man willingly confessed to being involved in operations against American targets, encompassing the 1988's Lockerbie attack and an unsuccessful plot to assassinate a US government official using a rigged garment.
Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir al-Marimi is reported to have admitted his role in the killing of 270 people when Flight 103 was exploded over the Scotland's town of the region, during questioning in a Libya's prison in 2012.
Referred to as Mas'ud, the 74-year-old has asserted that three disguised persons pressured him to make the statement after menacing him and his relatives.
His attorneys are working to block it from being utilized as evidence in his court case in the US capital in 2025.
In reply, lawyers from the federal prosecutors have said they can establish in legal proceedings that the confession was "unforced, reliable and accurate."
The presence of the defendant's alleged statement was first disclosed in the year 2020, when the United States stated it was indicting him with constructing and activating the explosive device used on Flight 103.
The family man is accused of being a ex- colonel in Libya's intelligence agency and has been in American confinement since 2022.
He has stated not responsible to the allegations and is due to face trial at the federal court for the District of Columbia in April.
Mas'ud's legal team are trying to stop the jury from learning about the admission and have filed a petition asking for it to be suppressed.
They argue it was acquired under duress following the overthrow which toppled Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.
They say previous members of the leader's regime were being victimized with unlawful deaths, kidnappings and abuse when the suspect was abducted from his residence by armed persons the following period.
He was transported to an unregistered holding location where other detainees were allegedly abused and abused and was by himself in a cramped room when multiple masked persons presented him a solitary document of paper.
His attorneys said its handwritten contents started with an instruction that he was to confess to the Lockerbie incident and another violent act.
The suspect claims he was told to remember what it said about the events and repeat it when he was interviewed by someone else the subsequent day.
Fearing for his safety and that of his children, he stated he believed he had no alternative but to acquiesce.
In their reply to the legal team's petition, attorneys from the American justice department have stated the tribunal was being asked to exclude "extremely significant proof" of Mas'ud's culpability in "two significant terrorist incidents targeting Americans."
They say Mas'ud's account of events is unbelievable and untrue, and argue that the details of the admission can be verified by reliable separate evidence gathered over many decades.
The government attorneys say Mas'ud and additional previous officials of the dictator's intelligence agency were held in a secret holding center managed by a militia when they were questioned by an knowledgeable Libyan investigator.
They contend that in the chaos of the post-revolution era, the center was "the safest environment" for the suspect and the additional personnel, considering the conflict and resistance feeling widespread at the moment.
Per to the police officer who interrogated Mas'ud, the location was "well run", the detainees were not restrained and there were no evidence of torture or pressure.
The officer has claimed that over two days, a confident and healthy Mas'ud detailed his role in the explosions of Flight 103.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also stated he had confessed creating a explosive which went off in a Berlin club in the mid-1980s, claiming the lives of multiple individuals, including multiple American military personnel, and harming many more.
He is also alleged to have described his role in an conspiracy on the lives of an anonymous US diplomatic official at a official ceremony in the Asian country.
Mas'ud is reported to have described that an individual travelling the American figure was bearing a explosive-laden coat.
It was Mas'ud's task to trigger the bomb but he decided not to proceed after discovering that the person carrying the item did not understand he was on a suicide mission.
He decided "not to trigger the trigger" although his commander in the agency being with him at the moment and questioning what was {going on|happening|occurring
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