Global Security Newswire

The 25-year-old man who attempted to blow up a passenger aircraft flying to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 received a life prison term on Thursday -- the strongest sentence permitted for his crime, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 12, 2011).

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty last fall to eight federal charges related to his unsuccessful effort to detonate a chemical bomb hidden in his underwear on board an airplane filled with with 289 passengers and crew.

"This was an act of terrorism that cannot be quibbled with," U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said in imposing the sentence. A life behind bars would be unceasingly grim, she promised. 

"Mr. Abdulmutallab has only that to look forward to," Edmunds said. She also said he had expressed no regret for his terrorist actions.

The Nigerian man did not react after he heard his sentence.

Justice Department attorneys said it was only good fortune that saved the passengers on board the Delta Airlines flight from being killed by Abdulmutallab's bomb, which failed to detonate properly.

Abdulmutallab's family would like to see the Justice Department reexamine the sentence, defense attorney Anthony Chambers told journalists. An appeal is planned.

"We are grateful to God that the unfortunate incident of that date did not result in any injury or death," Abdulmutallab's family said in a statement.

Abdulmutallab told the courtroom that the attack, for which he received support from the Yemen-based terrorist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was planned as revenge for U.S. military assaults on Muslims.

"The jihadi is proud to kill in the name of God and that is exactly what God told us to do in the Koran," he said (Woodall/Seetharaman, Reuters, Feb. 16).