Underwear bomber gets life in prison

WASHINGTON (MCT) — The Nigerian who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear aboard a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas Day 2009 was sentenced to life in prison in a U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Speaking briefly in court Thursday, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 25-year-old son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, called his sentencing “a day of victory,” and said he was “proud to kill in the name of God,” according to wire service reports.

A criminologist who analyzed the transcripts of the FBI interrogation of Abdulmutallab wrote in a report submitted to the judge that Abdulmutallab was unrepentant.

“There is a high probability that given the opportunity, he would try once again to commit an act of martyrdom,” wrote Simon Perry, a criminologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who completed a psychological profile of Abdulmutallab that was submitted to the court by the prosecution.

“Today’s sentence once again underscores the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in incapacitating terrorists and gathering valuable intelligence from them,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement.

Abdulmutallab brought his trial to an abrupt halt in October when he pleaded guilty on the second day in court to eight counts including conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

In 2009, Abdulmutallab sought out the assistance of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen and stayed at al-Awlaki’s home there for three days. While in Yemen, al-Awlaki and operatives from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula allegedly helped Abdulmutallab assemble the bomb that he wore on a flight to Amsterdam and successfully smuggled onto Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

Al-Awlaki was killed in a missile strike in Yemen in September. It is not known whether the bomb maker, Ibrahim Hassan Asiri, is still alive.

Passengers and crew subdued Abdulmutallab when the bomb failed to detonate and Abdulmutallab’s pants caught fire. “Today’s sentence once again underscores the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in both incapacitating terrorists and gathering valuable intelligence from them,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement.

Abdulmutallab’s father had told the CIA that he was concerned that his son might launch an attack, but that information was never checked against Abdulmutallab’s visa when he boarded the flight in Amsterdam.