The British Broadcasting Corporation “BBC” has said that the Libyan suspect in the Lockerbie bombing case, Abu Agila Masud al-Marimi, 74, has “alleged” to his lawyers that he was forced to make a false confession during his detention in Libya.
Al-Marimi explained that he was in custody when three masked men entered and ordered him to memorize information related to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, along with another terrorist attack. He asserted that he repeated what he had been coached to say to a Libyan official after the men threatened to harm his family if he did not comply.
Al-Marimi’s lawyers have filed a motion with a federal court in Washington to exclude this confession from evidence, ahead of his trial scheduled for April 2026. The defense team asserted that their client was kidnapped from his home after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, held in an unofficial facility where he was denied his legal rights, and witnessed bodies in the streets and detainees being beaten.
The U.S. Department of Justice had announced five years ago that it was charging al-Marimi with a pivotal role in the bombing that killed 270 people, including 190 Americans. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Gaddafi congratulated al-Marimi after the operation, telling him that he had performed a “great national duty against the Americans.”
The case dates back to December 21, 1988, when the plane exploded over the town of Lockerbie in Scotland, resulting in the deaths of all passengers and crew, in addition to 11 people on the ground. This case remains the most prominent legal and security file between Libya, the United States, and Britain.
With seven months remaining until the trial begins, the defense is seeking to persuade the court to exclude the confessions on the grounds that they were made under duress, while the prosecution asserts that a Libyan official documented the confession in 2012 and is prepared to testify. To date, prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice have not responded to these allegations.