Lockerbie bombing suspect pleads not guilty in US court

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud faces three charges related to 1988 bombing

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  Police in Lockerbie, Scotland, survey the damage on the ground after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York, in December 1988.

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  A policeman walking away from the damaged cockpit of the plane that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

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  Ruined houses in the town of Lockerbie.

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  Some of the destruction caused by Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed on to the town of Lockerbie.

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  Police and investigators look at what remains of the nose of Pan Am 103 in 1988.

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  Police officers examine the wreckage.

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  Devastation caused by the explosion over Lockerbie.

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  Wrecked houses and a crater in the ground in the village of Lockerbie, Scotland, after the bombing of the Pan Am 103.

Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, the Libyan citizen accused of making the bomb that downed Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was arraigned in a US federal court in Washington on Wednesday.

Masud pleaded not guilty to three charges in connection to one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in UK and US history.

The 71-year-old faces two counts of destruction of an aircraft resulting in death and one count of destruction of a vehicle used in foreign commerce.

Bald, with a thick grey beard, Masud hobbled into Judge Moxila Upadhyaya's courtroom wearing a forest-green prison jumpsuit and a face mask.

He fumbled with his headset at times as he listened to a court appointed Arabic translator explain the judge's orders.

When asked if he "swore to tell the truth," Masud responded "God willing, yes."

The charges carry the possibility of life in prison or the death penalty; however, the prosecution said it would not be pursuing capital punishment because at the time of the bombing in 1988 it was not in federal use.

A total of 270 people were killed when a bomb exploded on board the New York-bound flight as it flew over Lockerbie.

All 259 people on board perished in the attack and 11 people were killed by falling debris.

The majority of those on board were Americans, including 35 students from Syracuse University in New York state.

The families of the victims have long sought justice for the attack, which has been elusive.

Only one other person has been convicted for the bombing. A former Libyan intelligence officer spent seven years in a Scottish prison after his conviction in 2001, but he was eventually released on compassionate grounds and died in Libya in 2012.

The US government first filed charges against Masud in 2020, but it took more than two years to extradite him from Libya.

His family claims he was kidnapped from his home by armed men in November.

In a statement at the time, his family admonished the Libyan government for his capture and for allowing the extradition.

His arraignment was delayed multiple times amid problems in securing a defence team.

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  The remnants of a Pan Am commercial aircraft lie in a field in Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988. AFP

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  Local residents look at one of the four engines of the Pan Am jet on a street in Lockerbie. AFP

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  The Boeing 747 'Clipper Maid of the Seas, which was flying from London to New York, was destroyed when a bomb was detonated in its forward cargo hold. AFP

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  The bombing of the jumbo jet killed all 259 people on board and another 11 people on the ground. AFP

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  Police and investigators look at what remains of the nose of Pan Am Flight 103 in a field in Lockerbie in December 1988. AP

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  The nose section of the crashed Boeing 747. AP

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  Houses destroyed by the downed jet. Getty

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  The bombing remains the deadliest terrorist attack to have taken place in the UK. Getty

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  A memorial to those killed in the 1988 bombing in Lockerbie. Reuters

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  Abu Agila Mohammad Masud, second from left, a Libyan man accused of making the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103, has been taken into US custody. He was charged by the US two years ago in connection with the Lockerbie bombing. Reuters

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  Some of the destruction caused by Pan Am Flight 103 after it crashed. Getty

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  Investigators reconstructed parts of the jet and proved a bomb caused the crash. Getty

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  Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, was released early from prison after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died in May 2012. Many have maintained that Al Megrahi was innocent.