A US Federal Appeal Court has upheld the life sentence on Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who tried to set off an explosive while aboard a US airliner in 2009.
The 6th US Circuit Court of Appeal rejected arguments by the man known as the underwear bomber that the sentence was cruel and US District Judge, Nancy Edmunds, had erred by letting him represent himself at trial despite doubts about his competency.
Mr. Abdulmutallab challenged the sentence despite having pleaded guilty in October 2011, a day after his trial began.
He called his attempted bombing at the time a part of his “religious duty” to participate in a Jihad against the United States to avenge attacks on Muslims.
Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge, David Mckeague, said that a life sentence was appropriate, given the nature of the crime, and the defendant, having committed an act of terrorism, “communicated a desire” to undertake more.
The Circuit Judge had found no reason to question Abdulmutallab’s competence, and said that statements were admissible under a public safety exception to the warning against self-incrimination.
Mr. Abdulmutallab’s bomb ignited a comet but did not explode on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, which had 289 people on board.