[This is the headline over a report published today on the BBC News website. It reads in part:]
An alleged confession by a suspect in the Lockerbie bombing will be allowed as evidence in a trial in the United States, a judge has ruled.
Lawyers for Abu Agila Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi had asked for the contested statement to be ruled inadmissible, claiming it was false and made under duress.
But the document will now form a central part of the prosecution case when the postponed trial begins at a federal court in Washington DC later this month.
Libyan Al-Marimi, also known as Masud, has denied making and priming the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 over Dumfries and Galloway on 21 December 1988. (...)
A group representing relatives of American victims of the atrocity described judge's decision as outcome as "another step in our long fight for justice".
The existence of Al-Marimi's alleged confession was first revealed in 2020 when the US government announced it was charging him over the bombing.
An FBI criminal complaint said he had freely admitted his involvement when he was questioned by a police officer in a Libyan detention facility in 2012.
Al-Marimi is said to have told the officer he acted alongside fellow members of the Libyan intelligence service, under the orders of senior officials.
According to the officer's account, Al-Marimi said he transported the bomb hidden in a suitcase from Libya to Malta, where he met two accomplices.
One was Abdulbasset Al Megrahi, the Libyan agent convicted of playing a central role in the plot at the first Lockerbie trial 25 years ago.
The second was said to be Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, a former Libyan Arab Airline official who was cleared by the same Scottish court.
The officer said Al-Marimi admitted setting the bomb timer so the explosion would occur 11 hours later, before handing the suitcase to Fhimah at Malta's Luqa airport.
Fhimah placed it onto a conveyor belt, introducing the unaccompanied bag into the international baggage system, tagged to be flown to the US.
Later that night, at 31,000 ft, it exploded in the forward hold of Pan Am 103.
Al-Marimi is alleged to have claimed he was later congratulated in person by the late Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi, for carrying out "a great national duty" against the Americans.
The Washington court has heard that the Libyan police officer - referred to as Jamal - kept a handwritten document containing the confession and a carbon copy of the statement in a safe in his home.
In 2015, he handed them over to the Libyan Attorney General's Office, who gave a copy of the confession to prosecutors from Scotland's Crown Office two years later. They shared it with the Americans.
The team of public defenders representing Al-Marimi at the District [Court] of the District of Columbia asked for the alleged confession to be excluded from his trial.
Jamal gave evidence in person at a hearing in the United States as judge Dabney Friedrich considered whether the statement should be allowed as evidence.
Prosecutors argued its highly-detailed contents could be corroborated to an extent unlikely with a fabricated confession.
At one point, Judge Friedrich instructed the US government to get hold of the original handwritten document and the carbon copy, only to be told the authorities in Tripoli couldn't find them.
Jamal now looks likely to be called as a witness at the trial, giving the jury the chance to hear his testimony for themselves, and the defence an opportunity to challenge his version of events.
A statement released by the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 said: "We are pleased with today's ruling.
"While we have always trusted the [US] government had a strong case, this only reinforces it.
"We look forward to gaining more information about the truth of what happened... this is another step in our long fight for justice.
"Jamal's courage to come forward with this confession and his testimony during the motion to suppress hearing does not go unnoticed by family members."
[RB: Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 is a US organisation. The UK equivalent is UK Families Flight 103. I wonder if their reaction was sought by the BBC.]
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