A Libyan al-Qaeda suspect arraigned in a New York court has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges over the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa that killed 244 people.
Anas al-Libi was snatched from the streets of the Libyan capital Tripoli by US commandoes on October 5 and at the weekend was brought to New York, where he he had been indicted by a grand jury.
The 49-year-old was on Tuesday escorted into New York Southern District courtroom 24A wearing a black sweater and grey jogging pants, with a bushy grey beard and closely cropped black hair.
Judge Lewis Kaplan read out a list of charges him that accuse Libi of conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, kill, destroy property and attack US defence buildings.
The charges do not carry the death penalty.
Libi, who looked tired, spoke in a gravelly voice only to confirm his name and age, and that he understood the proceedings. Speaking in Arabic, he was given a translator to follow the hearing.
The prosecution said Libi, whose given name is Nazih Abdul Hamed al-Raghie, was a clear danger to the public and a flight risk with no family in the US.
The judge ordered him detained and, after a session of less than 15 minutes, adjourned the next hearing until October 22.
The August 7, 1998 car bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi killed 213 people and wounded another 5000.
A near simultaneous truck bomb outside the US mission in Tanzania killed 11 people and wounded 70 more.
The computer expert had been on the FBI's most wanted list with a $US5 million ($A5.2 million) price on his head for his presumed role.
Prior to arriving in New York, he was interrogated on the USS San Antonio, a US amphibious transport ship that had been operating off Libya in the Mediterranean.
But US television network CBS reported that his questioning was cut short after he started to refuse food and water.
CBS said Libi suffers from hepatitis.
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