africalegalbrief.com

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a Nigerian man to life in prison for trying to blow up a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit in 2009.

"This was an act of terrorism that cannot be quibbled with," said U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, who imposed the maximum sentence allowed.

A bomb hidden in the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now 25, caused a fire but failed to explode on a Delta Airlines flight carrying 289 people on December 25, 2009.

Abdulmutallab, who wore a white t-shirt and skull cap, sat impassively as the sentence was read out in a crowded Detroit court room.

Earlier, he used a four-minute address to the court to repeat that his attack was attended to avenge "the attacks of the United States on Muslims." He had pleaded to trying to blow up the plane.

Prison and legal officials expect he will be assigned to the Supermax federal prison in Florence, Colo., to spend the rest of his life behind bars. The facility is considered the most secure prison in the United States and is home to a number of infamous al-Qaida operatives and other inmates, including Unabomber and University of Michigan graduate Ted Kaczynski and Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, a Lapeer native.

"The isolation: That'll probably be his biggest problem," said Joe Gunja, a former warden at the prison. "He won't get mistreated but it's very, let me say, isolated — for good reason."

The prison is the likely final stop in an international journey launched by Abdulmutallab. The privileged student from an affluent Nigerian family became indoctrinated by watching Internet videos produced by radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, quit graduate school in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to travel to Yemen and join al-Qaida.

At least four passengers from Northwest Airlines Flight 253 are expected to speak during the sentencing at 1 p.m. in front of U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds.

Abdulmutallab's parents arrived in Detroit on Tuesday and tried to visit their son at the federal prison in Milan. He refused to see them, said Adolph Mongo, a jury and media consultant who met with the family Tuesday.

His parents attended the sentencing to see their son, perhaps for the last time.

"They were here to support him," Mongo said.

Shama Chopra, who was on the plane, and husband Ray Chopra of Montreal were in court to confront Abdulmutallab and hopefully learn more about the failed attack.

Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial in federal court before the public, and passengers, learned more details of the crime.

"Before accepting his guilty plea I would have liked to know the facts of this case," Ray Chopra said. "Victims … will probably never know what happened on that day."

The failed attack exposed gaps in airport security as Abdulmutallab managed to board several airplanes while carrying a unique bomb made of explosives and chemicals, which was sewn into his underwear.

Abdulmutallab will face unusually restrictive conditions if he is assigned to the Supermax prison, known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies."

Some inmates, including terrorists, are assigned to a unit where they are locked in cells 23 hours a day. Those inmates are allowed one hour of recreation a day in a yard secluded from other prisoners, Gunja said.

Abdulmutallab likely will face a long list of restrictions, he said.

No visitors. No phone calls, except from lawyers. No outgoing mail. No communication with fellow inmates, even those in adjoining cells — the air vents are sealed.

During his surprise guilty plea in October, Abdulmutallab called the underwear bomb a "blessed weapon to save the lives of innocent Muslims." He also said he launched the attack in retaliation of the United States' support of Israel.

Abdulmutallab, who acted as his own lawyer, pleaded guilty to eight charges, including attempted murder, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.