Lockerbie bombing suspect claims FBI seized him 'hooded and bound' in 'cloak and dagger' midnight operation from Libya

Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud, accused of building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and killed 270 people, has asked a Washington DC judge to throw out his case, alleging he was unlawfully abducted from his home in Tripoli by masked armed men. His legal team says he was dragged across the floor, his son beaten with a rifle, and his wife and daughter attacked before he was handed to FBI agents. The US Department of Justice insists the manner of his removal should not prevent his long-delayed trial from proceeding in January.

Defence lawyers say the masked militia that seized Al-Marimi had 'a reputation for brutality and disdain for human rights.'

Al-Marimi says he had been released from a Libyan prison on compassionate grounds just two weeks before armed men returned to his Tripoli home.

The DOJ argues US law means the circumstances of his removal cannot stop the thrice-postponed trial from finally getting underway.