Libya put two security agents before Western journalists Wednesday to deny they bombed a Pan Am airliner over Scotland in 1988.
The two appeared at the Libyan Supreme Court where a judge is checking to see if evidence justifies their trial on a charge carrying the death penalty.The United States and Britain have threatened reprisals against Libya unless it hands over the two agents, accused of killing 270 people over Lockerbie, Scotland in December 1988.
Libya has denied any state role in a midair explosion that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103, and Tripoli rejects Western demands to extradite the for trial in Britain or the United States.
The two, Abdel Baset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi and al-Amin Khalifa Fhimah, expressed they were innocent in a two-minute meeting with reporters. Held in English and Arabic, the press conference was their first appearance before the Western press.
Meanwhile, tribal chiefs met Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi to declare loyalty with expressions like, "Fight and we will follow you," according to state television.
They said they were prepared to face any "Crusader War" the West planned against the North African state.
Libyan investigating judge Ahmed al-Taher al-Zawi says he is looking into allegations by London and Washington that the two men planted a bomb aboard the New York-bound airliner, which exploded over the town of Lockerbie.
The judge told reporters Sunday that the pair was under house arrest and faced the death penalty if convicted by a Libyan court. He discounted handing them over to the West as demanded, saying this was incompatible with his country's sovereignty.