Family of Lockerbie suspect say he is innocent

The US alleges Abu Agila Masud made the bomb that downed Pan Am flight 103

The family of a Lockerbie bombing suspect has told the BBC he had nothing to do with the 1988 atrocity.

The US alleges Abu Agila Masud, from Libya, made the bomb that downed Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town.

But his nephew said he was the victim of "trumped up charges".

It follows claims that Mr Masud was abducted from his home in Tripoli before being handed to the US earlier this month. Libya's top law officer has ordered a probe into his handover.

It is exactly 34 years since the blast on the Boeing 747 claimed the lives of 270 people. It remains the deadliest terrorist incident to have taken place on British soil.

All 259 passengers and crew on board the jumbo jet, bound for New York from London, died while another 11 people were killed in Lockerbie when wreckage destroyed their homes.

The dead were citizens of 21 different countries, including 190 Americans.

• Lockerbie bombing suspect in US custody

• Libyan probe into Lockerbie suspect handover to US

• Timeline: Lockerbie bombing

Mr Masud appeared in a Federal Court in Washington a day after it was confirmed he was in the hands of American authorities.

Speaking in Tripoli, Masud's nephew Abdelmoneim al-Marimi described his uncle as a religious man.

He said: "This is a trumped charge. I am confident my uncle has nothing to do with this. He is a well-behaved man.

"He is vehemently religious and he fears Allah. He will never think of killing anyone."

Mr Masud's family say they are taking legal action against those they believe to be responsible for his extradition.

They have accused the head of the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU), Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibeh, the Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush and a GNU-affiliated militia of being involved in kidnapping Mr Masud and detaining him for a month without charge.

His nephew added: "The prime minister made direct accusations in one of his speeches of my uncle being a terrorist and murderer, even before trial.

"One of the children was playing the other day and someone told him 'Your grandfather is a terrorist'. He never stopped crying and he now doesn't want to go to school."

Dbeibeh has been quoted as saying that the GNU had to co-operate after Interpol issued an arrest warrant against Mr Masud.

An FBI criminal complaint against Mr Masud alleges that he confessed to making the bomb when he was being held in custody in Libya in 2012.

He was serving a prison sentence for crimes committed during the 2011 uprising against Colonel Gaddafi's regime.

Second suspect 'still in Libya'

Since 1991, US and Scottish investigators have alleged that the bombing was an act of state sponsored terrorism conducted by Libyan intelligence agents.

A trial under Scots law in the neutral Netherlands resulted in the conviction of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, who was said to be one of several intelligence agents involved in the plot.

He was the only man to be convicted over the attack.

Megrahi continued to protest his innocence until his death in Libya in 2012

Megrahi was jailed for life but was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government in 2009 after being diagnosed with cancer. He died in Libya in 2012.

In 2015, the US and Scotland announced they had "a proper basis in law" to treat Mr Masud and former Libyan spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi as suspects.

Senussi was in charge of Libya's intelligence service when the bombing took place but it is not known whether he has ever been questioned over Lockerbie.

The GNU has now denied claims that Senussi is in US custody over Lockerbie.

The pan-Arab channel Al Arabiya reported his family as saying that he may have been handed over to the American authorities.

However a GNU source has told the BBC that Senussi is still in Libyan custody, serving a life sentence in prison.