Nigerian Mutallab pleads guilty to US airline plot

Nigerian Mutallab pleads guilty to US airline plot

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man charged with attempting to blow up a US-bound airliner on December 25 2009, on Wednesday, pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him, saying he had sought to avenge the killing of Muslims.

In a six-minute speech to a shocked courtroom on the second day of his high profile-trial in Detroit, Michigan, Abdulmutallab insisted his actions were righteous and that the true crime was US foreign policy.

"I am guilty of this count in US law but not in the Qur'an," the 25-year-old Nigerian said as he reversed course in the trial and confessed to trying to kill 289 people on a packed transatlantic flight using explosives hidden in his underwear.

"The United States should be warned that if they continue and persist in promoting the blasphemy of Muhammad and the US continues to kill and support those who kill innocent Muslims, then the US should await a great calamity through the hands of the Mujahedeen... or God."

The eight terrorism counts he pleaded guilty to cumulatively carry a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Botched Plot

The botched plot, which US officials say was the work of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, failed because the explosives did not fully detonate and instead caused a fireball.

Passengers and crew members were able to restrain Abdulmutallab and put out the fire as the Northwest flight from Amsterdam made an emergency landing in Detroit.

The incident triggered global alarm and led the United States to adopt stringent new screening and security measures.

The reputation of the US intelligence services also took a hit because Abdulmutallab's father, a prominent Nigerian banker, had warned the CIA about his son's growing radicalization.

Attorney General Eric Holder hailed the guilty plea for removing "any doubt that our courts are one of the most effective tools we have to fight terrorism and keep the American people safe."

"We will continue to be aggressive in our fight against terrorism and those who target us and we will let results, not rhetoric, guide our actions," Holder said in a statement.

Oral Evidence

Abdulmutallab kept his description of how he carried out the plot to the absolute minimum required to satisfy the judge that he was indeed guilty of all charges. Every admission included an accusation.

Abdulmutallab said he "had an agreement with at least one person" to attack the US in retaliation for US support for Israel and in revenge for the killing of innocent Muslims in Palestine, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan and beyond.

"I attempted to use an explosive device, which under US law is called a weapon of mass destruction, which I call a blessed weapon to save the lives of innocent Muslims for the US used weapons of mass destruction on innocent Muslims," he told the court. He is to be sentenced on January 12.

His court-appointed standby counsel said he had urged the young man to see the trial through but Abdulmutallab was not interested in trying to avoid spending the rest of his life behind bars.

"He wanted to say something for some time and that was satisfying to him," Anthony Chambers told reporters.

AFP/Uche Iheanacho/Hajia Sani