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US prosecutors have claimed that a Libyan man accused of building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988 freely confessed to his role in the attack and other plots targeting Americans.
Abu Agila Mas’ud Kheir al-Marimi, 74, allegedly admitted his involvement during questioning at a Libyan detention facility in 2012. He has since said the confession was coerced by masked men who threatened him and his family.
Mas’ud’s lawyers are seeking to suppress the statement ahead of his trial in Washington next April, arguing it was obtained under duress during the post-Gaddafi upheaval, when former regime members faced widespread reprisals, abductions, and torture.
Prosecutors from the US Department of Justice counter that the confession was “voluntary, reliable, and accurate,” calling it “highly relevant evidence” of Mas’ud’s guilt in “two major terrorist attacks against Americans.”
They say Mas’ud detailed his role in the Lockerbie bombing — which killed 270 people — as well as a 1986 nightclub bombing in West Berlin and an aborted plot to assassinate a US secretary of state using a booby-trapped overcoat.
According to prosecutors, the Libyan police officer who interviewed Mas’ud described the facility as “well run,” with no signs of abuse, and said Mas’ud appeared “confident and healthy” while recounting his role over two days.
Mas’ud’s lawyers insist he was forced to memorise a prewritten confession and repeat it out of fear for his life. They argue the statement was fabricated amid Libya’s post-revolution chaos.
The confession surfaced in 2017, after Libyan authorities passed it to Scottish investigators, who then shared it with the US. Prosecutors say it had been hidden for years by a Libyan officer who feared for his safety.
Mas’ud, a father of six and former Libyan intelligence officer, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A court hearing will determine whether the confession can be admitted as evidence at his trial.
