Lawyers representing Abu Agila Masud al-Marimi have called for the dismissal of charges against him in the United States, arguing that the disappearance of critical video evidence has rendered a fair trial impossible. The defence team claims that a filmed recording of an alleged confession, purportedly made by Masud while in Libyan custody in 2012, has been “lost or destroyed.” They contend that the absence of this footage deprives their client of evidence that could prove his innocence regarding the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, which resulted in 270 fatalities.
The controversy centres on the integrity of the evidence-gathering process. A Libyan official who filmed the interrogation reportedly claimed to have kept the device in a safe for years before notifying authorities in 2015. However, by 2024, the official stated that while the recording device had been found, the content was missing. Masud’s legal team has categorised this development as a “bad faith loss of evidence,” suggesting the video might have exposed the coercive conditions of the interrogation or offered a narrative contradicting the written statements used by US prosecutors.
Masud, who denies manufacturing the bomb, is currently facing trial for events that occurred 37 years ago outside US jurisdiction. While the FBI maintains that the explosive was hidden in a suitcase transported from Malta to Frankfurt and then onto the ill-fated flight at Heathrow, the defence argues the prosecution’s case is fundamentally flawed without the original recordings. A Washington court is expected to hold a hearing next month to determine the admissibility of the contested confession, with the US government due to respond to the defence’s challenges later this week.
