Abdulmutallab was one of 289 passengers on a Christmas Day flight in 2009 from Amsterdam to Detroit when he attempted to ignite explosives concealed in his underwear as the plane made its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
The explosive failed, catching fire and injuring only Abdulmutallab before pilots landed the plane and authorities took him into custody. He was later tried for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and other charges.
Abdulmutallab chose to represent himself during the trial, saying he felt receiving representation from a federal public defender would not be in his best interest, according to court records. After one day of the trial, he entered a guilty plea to all eight counts in the indictment and was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences plus 30 years and 240 months.
In an appeal, Abdulmutallab challenged the court’s decision to allow him to represent himself, as well as the admission of several statements he gave while being treated at University of Michigan Hospital, his competency to enter his guilty plea and whether or not his sentences were constitutional.
The appeals court said the trial court was not obligated to conduct a competency hearing before accepting Abdulmutallab’s plea, saying the pretrial record indicated he was able to assist in his own defense before entering the plea.
Similarly, the appeals court rejected Abdulmutallab’s claim that a competency hearing should have been ordered before allowing him to proceed without an attorney, citing the fact that standby counsel appointed by the trial court to assist Abdulmutallab took part in the vast majority of proceedings prior to his guilty plea.
The court dismissed his challenge to the admission of statements he gave while hospitalised, saying Abdulmutallab lost the right to challenge the admission when he pleaded guilty.
“We will not address the merits of Abdulmutallab’s argument, as he waived any right to challenge the suppression of his statements when he entered the guilty plea,” Judge David McKeague wrote in the unanimous opinion.
The court also concluded the sentences Abdulmutallab received were within the boundaries of federal law and the U.S. constitution.
“Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate a bomb on a plane with 289 passengers. He may have been the only person harmed, but that is only because his bomb failed to properly work. These facts, and the fact that Abdulmutallab’s sentence was within the guideline range and proportional, inform this court that his sentence is not ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment,” McKeague wrote.
Abdulmutallab, son of a wealthy banker, grew up in Nairobi, attended boarding school and college, and lived in an expensive London neighborhood. Chat room posts show that he worried about his school test scores and about girls — and felt lonely. He traveled to Yemen between high school and college to study Arabic. His classmates at University College London described him as quiet, easy to overlook.
Abdulmutallab may have failed to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day 2009 because he didn’t change his underwear.
The Nigerian man allegedly wore the explosive underwear for three weeks to make sure he was comfortable enough to get through security, only taking it off when he showered.
“We think ultimately, that probably is what caused a little bit of separation in the sequence of events in the explosion,” FBI agent Ted Peissig, who interrogated Abdulmutallab, told ABC News’ Detroit affiliate WXYZ.
Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty to attempting to blow up Northwest Flight 253 over metro Detroit, which was carrying 300 people. The device failed to detonate but the would-be bomber was given multiple life sentences.
The details were unearthed in an interview with two FBI agents who interrogated and secured a confession from Abdulmutallab after his arrest, reports the Daily Mail.
Peissig told ABC how Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate the bomb. After returning to his seat from the restroom, Abdulmutallab reportedly told the passenger seated next to him that he wasn’t feeling well.
“And pulled a blanket almost completely concealing himself up to the chin,” Agent Peissig tells ABC. sing a plastic syringe, he then injected a mixture of liquids and solids into the explosive chemicals already packed into his underwear. Even though the bomb did not detonate, it caught fire and badly burned the terrorist in the groin.
Even though it’s fortunate Abdulmutallab’s dirty underwear caused the bomb to fail, Peissig told ABC that the fire was extremely dangerous.
“In speaking with the pilots collectively, there’s no greater emergency on a plane than fire,” says Peissig.
“To them, that is the worst thing that can happen. The planes themselves are no longer cable controlled, they’re wire controlled. They could lose complete control of the plane if the flame impinged on the wiring,” he explains.
He is the youngest of 16 children of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and former Federal Commissioner for Economic Development.
The family comes from Funtua in Katsina State. Abdulmutallab was raised initially in an affluent neighborhood of Kaduna, in Nigeria’s north, and at the family home in Nairobi, Kenya. As a young boy, he attended the Essence International School in Kaduna, as well as classes at the Rabiatu Mutallib Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. Considered a gifted student, he also enjoyed playing PlayStation and basketball.
According to one of his cousins, as a teenager, Abdulmutallab became very pious as a Muslim, and detached himself from others of his age. He condemned his father’s banking profession as “immoral” and “un-Islamic” for charging interest, urging him to quit. “That kind of detachment from others and singular focus on Islam was a common thread in Mr. Abdulmutallab’s life, according to family members, friends and classmates.
Abdulmutallab began his studies at University College London in September 2005, where he studied Engineering and Business Finance, and earned a degree in mechanical engineering in June 2008.
He was president of the school’s Islamic Society, which some sources have described as a vehicle for peaceful protest against the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom in the War on Terrorism. During his tenure as president, along with political discussions, the club participated in activities such as martial arts training and paintballing; at least one of the Society’s paintballing trips involved a preacher who reportedly said: “Dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to paradise.”
He is the fourth president of a London student Islamic society to face terrorist charges in three years. He organised a conference in January 2007 under the banner “War on Terror Week”, and advertised speakers including political figures, human rights lawyers, speakers from Cageprisoners, and former Guantánamo Bay detainees. One lecture, Jihad v Terrorism, was billed as “a lecture on the Islamic position with respect to jihad”.
During those years, Abdulmutullab “crossed the radar screen” of MI5, the UK’s domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, for radical links and “multiple communications” with Islamic extremists.[
At the age of 21, Abdulmutallab told his parents that he wanted to get married; they refused to allow him to do so on the grounds that he had not yet earned a master’s degree.
On June 12, 2008, Abdulmutallab applied for and received from the U.S. consulate in London a U.S. multiple-entry visa, valid to June 12, 2010, with which he visited Houston, Texas, from August 1-17, 2008. After graduating from university, Abdulmutallab made regular visits to the family town of Kaduna, where his father had paid to construct a mosque. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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what a waste of life´.weii see in next life cos dos one is doomed already.Islamic jihadist my foot
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