• 'Land in Rome or I will blow up the plane', hijackers' note to crew read
• Passengers did not realise they were being hijacked until after it landed in Malta, according to airline representative
• Airline urges courts to release plane, saying the seizure is costing it money
• Proceedings delayed after defendant's legal aid lawyer says he was not informed of the hearing
• Next hearing will be on January 19

Updated 2pm

Hijackers who took 111 passengers hostage last month announced their intentions by handing a note to a cabin crew member saying “Land in Rome or I will blow up the plane”, a court heard today.

Testifying in the case against Moussa Shaha Ali Sako and Ali Ahmed Lano Saleh, anti-terror squad police inspector Omar Zammit said that investigators had found images of weapons and an aircraft’s interior plan on mobile phones belonging to the two men.

Mr Soko and Mr Saleh stand accused of having hijacked an Afriqiyah Airways plane heading from Sabha to Tripoli, Libya on December 23. The two men, both Libyan nationals in their 20s, have pleaded not guilty to that and a raft of other charges, and face life imprisonment if convicted.

Their court hearing got off to a turbulent start this morning when a legal aid lawyer for one of the defendants failed to appear in court as he had not been notified of the sitting.

READ: Hijacked plane lands in Malta

After an hour-long wait, Magistrate Anthony Vella got proceedings underway, with Inspector Zammit telling the court that the hijackers had originally planned on landing the plane in Rome, before cabin crew swayed them to go to Malta instead.

Neither of the two men explained their hijack motives or political background during police interrogations, he said, although Mr Saleh had said that he was only on the plane to accompany Mr Soko.

When news of the plane’s imminent arrival in Malta reached local air traffic controllers, an emergency protocol, dubbed Operation Warda [Operation Rose] was initiated and the Armed Forces of Malta took over airport operations, air traffic controller Renald Galea told the court

The court heard two Afriqiyah Airways representatives, who recounted the sequence of events on the morning of the hijack and explained how they had learnt of events.

One representative who met with the passengers after they had been released said that many had not realised that they were hostages in a hijack situation.

Many thought poor weather had forced the plane to divert, and only realised what was going on after the plane had landed in Malta, he said.

Lawyer Julian Farrugia appeared today for Mr Saleh instead of Patrick Valentino as legal aid, who is abroad. Legal aid Joe Ellis appeared for Mr Soko. Inspectors Omar Zammit and George Cremona prosecuted, assisted by Philip Galea Farrugia from the Attorney General's office. 

The case will continue on January 19.

LIVE UPDATES

1.18pm Magistrate Vella brings down the gavel and wraps up today's court session. The next hearing will be held on January 19 at noon. 

1pm Mr Abbussen says that he does not know of passengers having made any claims for compensation from the airline. He says he had no personal contact with the plane pilot, and explains that the airline was unable to check the plane following the hijack.

"When we called the hijacked plane's crew, the plane had already landed," he tells the court, as he explains that he was following events on a Maltese TV channel. 

12.53pm The airline's emergency response group had no direct contact with the plane, the witness says, adding that by the time he reached Tripoli airport the plane was out of Libyan airspace.

12.48pm Magistrate Vella asks Mr Abbussen whose job it is to prepare the flight plan. "Normally it is done by the flight operations officer on the day," they reply. 

12.43pm Upon hearing of the hijack, Mr Abbussen activated the airline's emergency response group, the witness testifies. 

Mr Abbussen says that a crew member on the hijacked plane had communicated with crew on another flight and informed them of the hijack.

12.36pm Another Afriqiyah Airways representative, Shadli Abbussen, take the witness stand. He is a flight operation manager for the airline in Tripoli and has worked with Afriqiyah for the past 13 years, having formerly served as a pilot for Libyan Arab Airlines.

12.33pm Many passengers thought that they had been diverted to Malta due to bad weather, the airline representative says, and many only got to know that they had been hijacked after the plane had landed.

12.27am None of the passengers needed medical attention or psychological assitance, the witness says, though one woman asked for doctor because her infant had a bad cough. 

12.18pm "Our only concern was to see to passengers' needs," Mr Abdullal says. When he finally got to meet passengers at 9pm that evening, some wanted to call home, some asked for their luggage. Many were cold and tired, and practically all just wanted to leave Malta and return home, he says.  

12.14pm The two accused men were seated in row 22, the court is told. Mr Soko was seated in 22A, with Mr Saleh right next to him in 22B. 

12.08pm Mr Abdullal remained at the airport until the evening, checking social media for updates and answering police questions about the passengers. Information trickling through on social media was rather confusing, he says.

12.06pm After confirming the news with the airline's chairman, Mr Abdullal went to the airport as instructed. He was accompanied by a friend of his, Ali Musrahi, who works in Malta for a travel agency which provides services to Afriqiyah Airways. 

12.04pm  He tells the court that he was first told of the hijack in a phone call at 11am on December 23. An IT department colleague of his who monitors planes in Libya had read a report of a hijack on Facebook and had decided to call the witness out of curiosity. 

11.57am Mr Abdullal tells the court that he has been an IT manager with the airline since 2007 and is also a company spokesman. He has been in Malta for the past five months. 

11.54am Afriqiyah Airways representative Mazeen Abdullal takes the stand. 

11.44am Control tower operatives received warning of hijack at around 10.45am with the plane landing some 20 minutes later, the court hears.  

When Operation Warda is activated, responsibility for airport operations falls on the AFM commander.

Mr Galea says he does not know who took the decision to temporarily close the airport, but that it is standard procedure according to the protocol laid down by Operation Warda. The airport is also closed down when fire and emergency services are occupied elsewhere, he says. 

11.33am Given that the plane had been hijacked, there was no flight plan in place, Renald Galea from air traffic control tells the court. Local officials set into motion emergency procedures - dubbed Operation Warda [Operation Rose] - and Malta's air traffic control tower informed neighbouring countries such Italy, Tunisia and Libya of the hijack.

11.27am Armed Forces member Pasquale Papa is the second witness to take the stand. He explains how the AFM's role was to arrest hijackers, and says that he recognised the two hijackers in court.

The two men were taken to the AFM's airport base and then passed on to police. They cooperated all along and did not understand English, Mr Fava says. One of men was carrying a black file.

11.22am The two accused men were interrogated on the same night of their arrest. They refused to reveal their motive behind the hijack or to say whether they were part of a political movement. 

However Mr Saleh said that he was on the plane to accompany Mr Soko, the inspector says.

The two were interrogated again the following day in the presence of lawyers and an interpreter. Each man had two mobile phones each, with photos of the plane's interior plan, weapons and hand grenades found on them. 

11.15am The hijackers originally wanted the plane to land in Rome, the Inspector says, with the men handing cabin crew a letter saying "land in Rome or I will blow up the plane". The crew subsequently convinced the men to land in Malta instead.

11.12am The first witness to testify is Inspector Omar Zammit from the police anti-terrorist squad. Inspector Zammit tells the court that upon learning of the hijack, police contacted the airline's Malta representative for a list of passengers on board. 

Jeffrey Curmi and two AFM officers went to the control room to contact the hijackers, he says. It was agreed that passengers would be released in groups of 25 for safety reasons.

11.08am Dr Ellis has objected to the presence of Philip Galea Farrugia from the Attorney General's office, claiming that there might be a conflict of interest.

Dr Galea Farrugia replies by saying he is there to help the prosecution and will not beposing any questions, prompting Dr Ellis to insist that the role of the Attorney General is not to assist the prosecution, but rather to determine whether or not to issue a bill of indictment.

11.05am Movement! Lawyer Joe Ellis has just arrived in the courtroom. He is currently talking to his client Mr Soko through an interpreter.

10.42am Everything remains at a standstill, with the secondary arraignment yet to begin. People are beginning to get restless. 

10.08am Rather than twiddle his thumbs and wait, magistrate Vella has decided to hear a separate arraignment concerning an unrelated case while a legal aid lawyer is found for Mr Soko. 

10am Lawyer Julian Farrugia, who is representing Mr Saleh, has said that lawyer and PN shadow minister Jason Azzopardi has nothing to do with the case, and that he [Dr Farrugia] was representing Mr Saleh on behalf of the accused's lawyer Patrick Valentino.  

9.52am Two members of the Armed Forces, an Afriqiyah Airways pilot and airline representative are all scheduled to testify today - provided the case resumes. Other witnesses will have to be granted visas to fly over to Malta to testify.

9.40am Mr Soko was represented by Mark Mifsud Cutajar during the arraignment stage. He was due to be replaced by Joe Ellis today, who has however informed the court that he was not informed. 

9.34am Case suspended. Mr Soko has just informed the court that he wants to be assisted by a lawyer. Proceedings have to stop until one is found.

9.30am A lawyer representing Afriqiyah Airways has asked the court to allow company officials onto the hijacked plane to take stock of the situation. But the court informs the lawyer that until it the process verbal is completed it cannot deliver such a decree.

9.25am Mr Sako appears to have no lawyer, with legal aid Joe Ellis having just told the court that he had not been informed. Mr Saleh is being represented by lawyer Julian Farrugia on behalf of Patrick Valentino, who is currently overseas. 

9.18am The two handcuffed men have been led into the courtroom under heavy escort. One is wearing a grey suit and black shirt. The other is wearing a blue suit, light shirt and tie and is talking to an interpreter. Magistrate Vella has not yet entered the courtroom.