The trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 24 year-old Nigerian accused of trying to bomb a Detroit-bound flight on December 25, 2009, yesterday began before a United States court in Detroit, Michigan just as the suspect appeared to be on a mission for al-Qaeda, seeking martyrdom.
Abdumutallab had? caught fire when a bomb sewn into his underwear failed to detonate fully, prosecutors said during his trial.
He is being prosecuted for a series of charges, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. If convicted, he could face a lifelong prison sentence.
During the opening statements, a federal prosecutor told the court that Abdulmutallab was on a terrorist mission to kill almost 300 people aboard an aircraft. Passengers on board the Northwest flight travelling from Amsterdam to Detroit had to put the fire out after the failed bombing, the court heard.
An Assistant US Attorney Jonathan Tukel also told jurors yesterday that, “And he thought by doing that he would end up somewhere else. He thought he would end up in heaven because he would be a martyr.
Tukel also chronicled Abdulmutallab’s life as a privileged student from an affluent family, alleging he quit graduate school in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to travel to Yemen and join al-Qaeda.
“He wanted jihad, and he sought it out and he found it,” Tukel told jurors.
Tukel described how Abdulmutallab allegedly spent the final minutes before detonating the bomb as the plane flew over Woodhaven, almost directly above Telegraph Road.
He said, “Abdulmutallab made several trips to the airplane’s bathroom. He brushed his teeth. He put on cologne. He prayed. He was purifying himself to get ready to die”.