DETROIT (AP) — A Nigerian who admitted trying to blow up an international flight for al-Qaida says his sentencing is a “day of victory.”
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab spoke briefly in court Thursday before prosecutors asked a judge to order the mandatory sentence of life in prison. He pleaded guilty last fall to trying to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253 with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas 2009.
Abdulmutallab, 25, says the Quran instructs Muslims to kill people in the name of God. He also says Jews must be driven out of Palestine.
Five people who were on the flight also spoke, telling a judge that their lives have changed forever. Theophilus Maranga says he prays for Abdulmutallab.
