US EditionLockerbie bombing accused says he was forced into false confession
Abu Agila Mas'ud alleges his 2012 confession was coerced through threats against his six children during detention in Libya's post-Gaddafi unrest, challenging its admissibility at his upcoming US trial.
- Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi, a 74-year-old Libyan-Tunisian, faces charges for assembling the explosive device responsible for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie.
- Mas'ud claims he was forced in Libyan custody after Gaddafi's fall to memorize and recite a false confession under threat to his six children and family.
- His lawyers filed a motion seeking to suppress the alleged 2012 confession on grounds of coercion amid a climate of post-2011 revolution retribution against former regime associates.
- The US Department of Justice charged Mas'ud five years ago, and the trial is scheduled for April next year with the court to decide the confession's admissibility.
- The ruling could shape prosecution evidence, while Mas'ud remains detained since December 2022 and pled not guilty to the deadliest terror attack in UK history.
6 Articles
6 Articles
The judges responsible for the attack on Rue des Rosiers were informed of the alleged involvement of Youssef Ali Qassim al-Farah, alias "Doctor Kamal", in the explosions of the two planes in 1988 and 1989. Documents from the Gaddafi regime's archives and an unpublished testimony confirm his role.
Libyan Lockerbie Bombing Suspect Claims Forced Confession
The Libyan man accused of constructing the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie has claimed he was coerced into making a false confession. Abu Agila Masoud, 74, is alleged by US prosecutors to have built the device that killed 270 people when the airliner exploded on 21 December 1988. He now says masked men forced him to memorise details of the attack and another terror plot while in custody in Libya, before threatening his famil…
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