DETROIT (AP) — A Nigerian who tried to blow up an international flight near Detroit on behalf of al-Qaida has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The mandatory punishment Thursday for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO’-mahr fah-ROOK’ ahb-DOOL’-moo-TAH’-lahb) was never in doubt after he pleaded guilty in October. The 25-year-old says the bomb in his underwear was a “blessed weapon” to avenge poorly treated Muslims worldwide.
The bomb didn’t fully detonate aboard an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight but caused a brief fire that burned Abdulmutallab.
He admitted afterward that the attack was inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki (ahn-WAHR’ al-aw-LAH’-kee), a radical American-born cleric and leading al-Qaida figure killed by a U.S. drone strike last fall.
Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds announced the sentence in a crowded courtroom that included some passengers from Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
