Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
Encyclopedia
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (also referred to as Umar Abdul Mutallab and Omar Farooq al-Nigeri; born December 22, 1986), popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber", is a suspected terrorist who attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253
, en route from Amsterdam
to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
claimed to have organized the attack with Adbulmutallab claiming that they supplied him with the bomb and trained him.
He was subsequently charged on eight criminal counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people. He is in U.S. custody, awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to all counts.
, a Nigerian businessman who was described by The Times
in 2009 as being "one of the richest men in Africa", and a former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria
and former Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development. His mother, Aisha, is the second of his father's two wives.
The family comes from Funtua
in Katsina State
. Abdulmutallab was raised initially in an affluent neighborhood of Kaduna
, in Nigeria's north, and at the family home in Nairobi
, Kenya. As a young boy he attended the Essence International School in Kaduna, as well as classes at the Rabiatu Mutallib Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. As a child he enjoyed playing PlayStation
and basketball . According to one of his cousins, Abdulmutallab condemned his father's banking profession as "immoral" and "un-Islamic" for charging interest, urging him to quit.
, the capital of Togo
, a popular private school in West Africa. Abdulmutallab was known as a devout Muslim
and for preaching about Islam
to his schoolmates. While at school, he was nicknamed "Alfa," which is a term for Muslim clerics, and "Pope" – both due to his piety. A teacher, John McGuinness, described Abdulmutallab as "incredibly polite and very hard-working" during this time, while also noting his devotion to the Muslim faith.
He was described as a "dream student" by his history teacher, Michael Rimmer. The Telegraph
interviewed Rimmer, who said that Abdulmutallab had defended the Taliban during classroom discussions of their social policies, and their destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan
. Rimmer described Abdulmutallab's family as "wonderful", and said he had been fond of Abdulmutallab. He also said he thought Abdulmutallab had been playing "devil's advocate
" during the classroom discussions, and that he had really understood Abdulmutallab, but concluded he had not understood him after all.
Abdulmutallab visited the U.S. for the first time in 2004.
in Sana'a
, Yemen
, and attended lectures at Iman University
.
CNN reported that, by 2005, "Farouk1986"'s postings "had a serious view of his religion." Tracey D. Samuelson of the Christian Science Monitor said that the posts "suggest a student preoccupied by university admissions and English soccer clubs, but who was also apparently lonely and conflicted." The Washington Post reviewed 300 online postings by "Farouk1986"; Philip Rucker and Julie Tate of the Washington Post said: "Taken together, the writings demonstrate an acute awareness of Western customs and a worldliness befitting Mutallab's privileged upbringing as a wealthy Nigerian banker's son." The user name posted on Facebook
and on Islamic Forum (gawaher.com).
Farouk1986 discussed loneliness and marriage in his postings between 2005 and 2007, writing on January 28, 2005:
And:
In a posting on February 20, 2005, he wrote:
And in a May 2005 posting, he referred to radical Jamaica
n-born Muslim cleric Abdullah el-Faisal
, who had been imprisoned in the UK for urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindus, and Americans, writing:
In January 2006 he chastised female users for not wearing the hijab
, adding:
Abdulmutallab began his studies at University College London
in September 2005, where he studied Engineering and Business Finance, and earned a degree in mechanical engineering
in June 2008.
He was president of the school's Islamic Society
, which some sources have described as a vehicle for peaceful protest against the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom in the War on Terrorism
. During his tenure as president, along with political discussions, the club participated in activities such as martial arts training and paintballing; at least one of the Society's paintballing trips involved a preacher who reportedly said: “Dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to paradise.” He is the fourth president of a London student Islamic society to face terrorist charges in three years. He devoted more time while at school to the group's activities than to his studies, graduating with a 2:2, the second-lowest in the class, (equal to a grade point average of 3.0) according to a friend. He organized a conference in January 2007 under the banner “War on Terror Week”, and advertised speakers including political figures, human rights lawyers, speakers from Cageprisoners
, and former Guantánamo Bay detainees. One lecture, Jihad v Terrorism, was billed as “a lecture on the Islamic position with respect to jihad”.
During those years he “crossed the radar screen” of MI5
, the UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, for radical links and “multiple communications” with Islamic extremists.
At the age of 21, Abdulmutallab told his parents that he wanted to get married; they refused to allow him to do so on the grounds that he had not earned a master's degree
.
On June 12, 2008, Abdulmutallab applied for and received from the U.S. consulate in London
a U.S. multiple-entry visa, valid to June 12, 2010, with which he visited Houston, Texas
, from August 1–17, 2008.
After graduating from university, Abdulmutallab made regular visits to Kaduna.
.
In May 2009, Abdulmutallab tried to return to Britain, ostensibly for a six-month "life coaching" program at what the British authorities concluded was a fictitious school; accordingly, his visa application was denied by the United Kingdom Border Agency. His name was placed on a UK Home Office
security watch list, which according to BBC News means he could not enter the UK, though passing through the country in transit was permissible and he was not permanently banned; the UK did not share the information with other countries. This is because the application was rejected to prevent immigration fraud
rather than for a national security purpose.
member, Anwar al-Awlaki
, may have directed Abdulmutallab to Yemen for al-Qaeda training. Abdulmutallab's father agreed in July 2009 to his request to return to the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language in Yemen to study Arabic from August to September 2009. He arrived in the country in August.
Abdulmutallab was the only African student in the school of 70 students. A fellow student at the Institute said Abdulmutallab would start his day by going to the mosque for dawn prayers, and then would spend hours in his room reading the Quran. Ahmed Mohammed, one of his teachers, said Abdulmutallab spent the last 10 days of Ramadan
sequestered in a mosque. He apparently left the Institute after a month, while remaining in-country.
His family became concerned in August 2009 when he called them to say he had dropped the course, but was remaining there. By September he routinely skipped his classes at the Institute and attended lectures at Iman University, notorious for suspected links to terrorism. “He told me his greatest wish was for sharia
and Islam to be the rule of law across the world,” said one of his classmates at the Institute.
The Institute obtained an exit visa for him at his request, and on September 21 arranged for a car that took him to the airport. But the school's director said: "After that, we never saw him again, and apparently he did not leave Yemen". In October, Abdulmutallab sent his father a text message saying that he was no longer interested in pursuing an MBA in Dubai, and wanted instead to study sharia and Arabic in a seven-year course in Yemen. His father threatened to cut off his funding, whereupon Abdulmutallab said he was “already getting everything for free”. When his father asked who would sponsor him, Abdulmutallab replied "That's none of your business." Among the other text messages he sent to his father were: "I've found a new religion, the real Islam"; "You should just forget about me, I'm never coming back"; "Please forgive me. I will no longer be in touch with you"; and "Forgive me for any wrongdoing, I am no longer your child." The family last had contact with Abdulmutallab in October 2009.
Yemeni officials said that he was in Yemen from early August 2009, overstayed his student visa (which was valid through September 21), and left Yemen on December 7 (flying to Ethiopia
, and then two days later to Ghana
). Yemeni officials have said that Abdulmutallab traveled to the mountainous Shabwah Province
to meet with "al-Qaeda elements" before leaving Yemen. A video of Abdulmutallab and others training in a desert camp, firing weapons at targets including the Jewish star
, the British Union Jack, and the letters "UN", was produced by al-Qaeda in Yemen
(whose logo is in a corner of the screen). The tape also includes an apparent martyrdom statement from him, justifying his actions against "the Jews and the Christians and their agents." Ghanaian officials say he was there from December 9 until December 24, when he flew to Lagos.
In February 2010, a Yemeni security official said that 43 people were being interrogated for links to the Christmas Day attempt, including foreigners, some of them studying Arabic and others married to Yemeni women. Abdulmutallab was thought to have used Arabic studies as a pretext for entering the country.
, a database of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center
. It was not added, however, to the FBI's 400,000-name Terrorist Screening Database
, the terror watch list that feeds both the 14,000-name Secondary Screening Selectee list
and the U.S.'s 4,000-name No Fly List
, nor was his U.S. visa revoked.
U.S. State Department officials said in Congressional testimony that the State Department had wanted to revoke Abdulmutallab's visa, but U.S. intelligence officials requested that his visa not be revoked. The intelligence officials' stated reason was that revoking Abdulmutallab's visa could have foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaeda.
Abdulmutallab's name had come to the attention of intelligence officials many months before that, but no "derogatory information" was recorded about him. A Congressional official said that Abdulmutallab's name appeared in U.S. reports reflecting that he had connections to both al-Qaeda and Yemen. The NCTC did not check to see whether Abdulmutallab's American visa was valid, or whether he had a British visa that was valid; therefore, they did not learn that the British had rejected Abdulmutallab's visa application earlier in 2009. The British did not inform the Americans because the visa application was denied to prevent immigration fraud and not for a national security purpose.
from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al Qaeda."
Abdulmutallab had been a devout Muslim throughout his youth, but it is unclear when he became "radicalized." During his time in London, he reportedly visited the London Muslim Centre three times; the Centre is expected to be a focus of future investigations.
In April 2009, Abdulmutallab had applied to attend an Islamic seminar in Houston, Texas. He obtained a multiple-entry visa in the U.S. Consulate in June 2008 that would be valid until June 2010. He attended the Islamic seminar from August 1–17 at AlMaghrib Institute
.
When Abdulmutallab returned to Yemen, purportedly to study Arabic again, he appeared to have undergone a personality change: he was more religious and "a loner", and wore traditional Islamic clothing. He rarely attended class, and sometimes he left class midway to go pray at a mosque.
in the U.S. who more recently has lived in Yemen, also has links to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the 2005 London subway bombers, a 2006 Toronto terror cell
, a 2007 Fort Dix attack plot
, and the 2009 Fort Hood shooter
.
With a blog and a Facebook page, he has been described as the "bin Laden of the internet."
Despite being banned from entering the UK in 2006, al-Awlaki spoke on at least seven occasions at five different venues around Britain via video-link in 2007–09. He gave a number of video-link lectures at the East London Mosque
during this period. In one instance, the mosque provoked the outrage of The Daily Telegraph by hosting a video-teleconference by al-Awlaki in 2008, and former Shadow Home Secretary
Dominic Grieve
expressed concern over al-Awlaki's involvement. On New Year's Day 2009 the mosque played a pre-recorded video lecture by al-Awlaki, with a poster depicting New York in flames. He also gave video-link talks in England to an Islamic student society at the University of Westminster
in September 2008, an arts center in East London in April 2009 (after the Tower Hamlets council gave its approval), worshipers at the Al Huda Mosque in Bradford
, and a dinner of the Cageprisoners
organization in September 2008 at the Wandsworth Civic Centre in South London
(at which he said "We should make jihad for our brothers and an angel will make the same jihad for you"). On August 23, 2009, al-Awlaki was banned by local authorities in Kensington and Chelsea
, London, from speaking at Kensington Town Hall
via videolink to a fundraiser dinner for Guantanamo detainees promoted by Cageprisoners. His videos, which discuss his Islamist theories, have also circulated in England.
Pete Hoekstra
, the senior Republican
on the House Intelligence Committee, said on the day of the attack that Obama administration officials and officials with access to law enforcement information told him "there are reports [the suspect] had contact [with al-Awlaki].... The question we'll have to raise is was this imam in Yemen influential enough to get some people to attack the U.S. again." He added: "The suspicion is ... that [the suspect] had contact with al-Awlaki. The belief is this is a stronger connection with al-Awlaki" than Hasan had. Hoekstra later said credible sources told him Abdulmutallab "most likely" has ties with al-Awlaki.
The Sunday Times
established that Abdulmutallab first met and attended lectures by al-Awlaki in 2005, when he was in Yemen to study Arabic. The two are also "thought to have met" in London, according to The Daily Mail. Fox News reported that evidence collected during searches of "flats or apartments of interest" connected to Abdulmutallab in London showed that he was a "big fan" of al-Awlaki, as web traffic showed he followed Awlaki's blog and website.
However, there is no clear evidence that the two men met in London. NPR
reported that according to unnamed intelligence officials Abdulmutallab attended a sermon by al-Awlaki at the Finsbury Park Mosque
"in the fall of 2006 or 2007", but al-Awlaki was in fact in prison in Yemen during that period. The Finsbury Park Mosque
has stated: "neither Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab nor Anwar al-Awlaki has ever been invited to attend NLCM
since we took charge of the mosque in February 2005. We can be certain that neither man has been given a platform at the mosque in any form". CBS News
and The Sunday Telegraph reported that Abdulmutallab attended a talk by al-Awlaki at the East London Mosque (which al-Awlaki may have participated in by video teleconference). However, The Sunday Telegraph has since removed the report from its website following a complaint by the East London Mosque
, who stated that "Anwar Al Awlaki did not deliver any talks at the ELM between 2005 and 2008, which is when the newspaper had falsely alleged that Abdullmutallab had attended such talks".
University of Oxford historian, and professor of international relations, Mark Almond
wrote that the suspect was "on American security watch-lists because of his links with ... Al-Awlaki".
CBS News said that the two were communicating in the months before the bombing attempt, and sources say that at a minimum al-Awlaki was providing spiritual support. According to federal sources, over the year prior to the attack, Abdulmutallab intensified electronic communications with al-Awlaki.
Intelligence officials suspect al-Awlaki may have directed Abdulmutallab to Yemen for al-Qaeda training. One government source described intercepted "voice-to-voice communication" between the two during the fall of 2009, saying that al-Awlaki "was in some way involved in facilitating [Abdulmutallab]'s transportation or trip through Yemen. It could be training, a host of things."
Abdulmutallab reportedly told the FBI that al-Awlaki was one of his trainers when he underwent al-Qaeda training in remote camps in Yemen, and there were "informed reports" that Abdulmutallab met al-Awlaki during his final weeks of training and indoctrination prior to the attack. According to a U.S. intelligence official, intercepts and other information point to connections between the two:
Yemen's Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs, Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi, said Yemeni investigators believe the suspect traveled in October to Shabwa, where he met with suspected al-Qaeda members in a house built by al-Awlaki and used by al-Awlaki to hold theological sessions, and that Abdulmutallab was trained and equipped there with his explosives. "If he went to Shabwa, for sure he would have met Anwar al-Awlaki," al-Alimi said. Al-Alimi also said he believed al-Awlaki is alive. A top Yemen government official said the two met with each other. And Abdul Elah al-Shaya, a Yemeni journalist, said a healthy al-Awlaki called him on December 28 and said that the Yemeni government's claims as to his death were "lies". Shaya declined to comment as to whether al-Awlaki had told him about any contacts he may have had with Abdulmutallab. According to Gregory Johnsen, a Yemeni expert at Princeton University
, Shaya is generally reliable.
At the end of January 2010, a Yemeni journalist, Abdulelah Hider Sha’ea, said he met with al-Awlaki, who said he had met and spoken with Abdulmutallab in Yemen in the fall of 2009. Al-Awlaki also reportedly said Abdulmutallab was one of his students, that he supported what Abdulmutallab did but did not tell him to do it, and that he was proud of Abdulmutallab. A New York Times journalist listened to a digital recording of the meeting, and said that while the tape's authenticity could not be independently verified, the voice resembled that on other recordings of al-Awlaki.
Al-Awlaki released a tape in March 2010, in which he said, in part:
On April 6, 2010, The New York Times
reported that President Obama had authorized the targeted killing
of al-Awlaki and he was killed in a drone attack in Yemen on September 30, 2011.
On Christmas Day 2009, Abdulmutallab traveled from Ghana to Amsterdam
, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253
en route to Detroit. He had purchased his ticket with cash in Ghana on December 16. Eyewitnesses Kurt Haskell and Lori Haskell told the Detroit News that prior to boarding the plane they witnessed a "smartly dressed man" possibly of Indian descent, around 50 years old, and who spoke "in an American accent similar to my own." helping Abdulmutallab onto the plane. They also testify that the ticket agent refused to allow Abdulmutallab on the plane because he did not have his own passport. These circumstances underlie some of the passengers' speculations that the U.S. government supplied a defective device to the perpetrator and a man in a tan suit with an American accent intervened, the matter was referred to a manager, and Abdulmutallab was then able to board the plane, presumably still without a passport.
Abdulmutallab spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom as the flight approached Detroit, and then covered himself with a blanket after returning to his seat. Other passengers then heard popping noises, smelled a foul odor, and some saw Abdulmutallab’s trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire. Fellow passenger Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director, jumped on Abdulmutallab and subdued him as flight attendants used fire extinguishers to douse the flames. Abdulmutallab was taken toward the front of the airplane cabin, was seen to have lost his trousers due to the fire, and had burns on his legs. When asked by a flight attendant what he had in his pocket, he replied: “Explosive device.” The device consisted of a six-inch (15-cm) packet which was sewn into his underwear containing the explosive powder PETN, which became a plastic explosive
when mixed with the high explosive triacetone triperoxide (TAPN) (the same two explosives that were used by Richard Reid
in 2001), and a syringe containing liquid acid. Abdulmutallab created the explosive by mixing PETN with TAPN and other ingredients.
After being taken into custody, Abdulmutallab told authorities he had been directed by al-Qaeda
, and that he had obtained the device in Yemen. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the organization's affiliate in Yemen, subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as revenge for the United States' role in a Yemeni military offensive against al-Qaeda in that country.
Register# 44107-039, is in Federal Correctional Institution, Milan
, a federal prison in York Charter Township, Michigan
.
New restrictions were imposed on U.S travelers, but the government was quiet about many of them because it "wanted the security experience to be 'unpredictable'". One day after she said that the system had "worked", Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
acknowledged that the aviation security system had indeed failed.
President Barack Obama
vowed that the U.S. government would track down all those responsible for the attack, and any attack being planned against the U.S. He also ordered a review of detection and watch list procedures. Saying that "totally unacceptable" systemic and human failures had occurred, Obama told reporters he was insisting on "accountability at every level," but did not give any details. Criticism of the system's failure to prevent Abdulmutallab from boarding the aircraft in the first place has been widespread; one critic, former FBI
counterterrorism agent Ali Soufan, has said that it "should have been lighting up like a Christmas tree."
United States Senator Joe Lieberman
called for the Obama administration to pre-emptively curb terrorism in Yemen and halt plans to repatriate Guantanamo detainees to Yemen.
Peter Hoekstra and Congressional Representative Peter T. King
also called for a halt to the repatriation of Guantanamo detainees from Yemen.
Bennie Thompson
, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called for a halt to all current plans with regard to Yemen in light of Abdulmutallab's ties there.
Immediately after the attack, Lateef Adegbite, Secretary General of Nigeria's Supreme Council for Islamic Affair, condemned the attack and said: "We are embarrassed by this incident and we strongly condemn the alleged action by this young man. We do not think that there is any organised Islamic group in Nigeria that is inclined to such a criminal and violent act. We condemn such an extreme viewpoint and action."
On December 27, The Wall Street Journal
reported that Abdulmutallab's suspected ties to jihadists from Yemen could potentially complicate the Obama administration's plans to release Yemeni detainees held in Guantanamo to Yemen.
On January 27, 2010 the House Committee on Homeland Security continued a series of hearings across Capitol Hill that started prior to January 27, 2010, all looking into the events leading up to and after the attempted bombing of Flight 253 over Detroit. Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa was not taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would have foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaeda threats against the United States.
Reactions in the Muslim and Arabic-speaking media were mixed, from suspicion that it was a "set-up to lure the media and expand the scope and depth of a new chapter in the war on terror", to concerns that Nigerians would now be "unduly stigmatized."
, with two criminal counts: attempting to blow up and placing a destructive device on a U.S. civil aircraft. Additional charges were added in a grand jury
indictment on January 6, 2010, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder
of 289 people. He is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Milan
, Michigan, while awaiting further legal proceedings. If he is convicted on the charges, he will face a life sentence plus 90 years in prison.
Abdulmutallab initially cooperated with investigators, then stopped talking. The decision to read him his Miranda rights, advising him of his right to remain silent, generated criticism from a number of mostly Republican politicians. After the FBI brought two of Abdulmutallab's relatives from Nigeria to the U.S. to speak with him, he once again began to cooperate.
On September 14, 2010, the Associated Press reported Abdulmutallab had dismissed his court-appointed defense team in order to defend himself.
On October 12, 2011, Abdulmutallab, after consulting with his lawyer, was once again read the charges against him in a Detroit court and after each one, he pled guilty to eight charges, including conspiring to commit terrorism.
"The Koran allows every Muslim to undertake jihad," Abdulmutallab told the court after changing his plea. "I carried the device to avenge the killing of my Muslim brothers and sisters... Unfortunately, my actions make me guilty of a crime." Abdulmutallab called the failed explosives he had hidden in his underwear a "blessed weapon" and said he attempted to use it "because of the tyranny of the United States." Abdulmutallab had originally pleaded not guilty to all charges, including attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, but apparently changed his mind since the prosecution completed their opening arguments.
He is expected to be sentenced on 12 January 2012
Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, United States...
, en route from Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, 2009. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen...
claimed to have organized the attack with Adbulmutallab claiming that they supplied him with the bomb and trained him.
He was subsequently charged on eight criminal counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people. He is in U.S. custody, awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to all counts.
Background
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is the youngest of the 16 children of Alhaji Umaru MutallabUmaru Mutallab
Alhaji Umaru Abdul Mutallab is a Nigerian business and banking leader, and former minister of Economic Development under the military government of Murtala Mohammed...
, a Nigerian businessman who was described by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
in 2009 as being "one of the richest men in Africa", and a former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria
First Bank of Nigeria
First Bank of Nigeria is a Nigerian bank and financial services firm.First Bank traces its ancestry back to the first major financial institution founded in Nigeria; hence the name. The current chairman is Dr. Ayoola Oba Otudeko, OFR...
and former Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development. His mother, Aisha, is the second of his father's two wives.
The family comes from Funtua
Funtua
Funtua is a Local Government Area in Katsina State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Funtua on the A126 highway.It has an area of 448 km² and a population of 225,571 at the 2006 census.Funtua became a Local Government in 1967.The chairman is the official Head of Local government....
in Katsina State
Katsina State
Katsina State is a state in northern Nigeria. Its capital is Katsina, and its governor is Ibrahim Shema, a member of the People's Democratic Party...
. Abdulmutallab was raised initially in an affluent neighborhood of Kaduna
Kaduna
Kaduna is the state capital of Kaduna State in north-central Nigeria. The city, located on the Kaduna River, is a trade center and a major transportation hub for the surrounding agricultural areas with its rail and road junction. The population of Kaduna is at 760,084 as of the 2006 Nigerian census...
, in Nigeria's north, and at the family home in Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
, Kenya. As a young boy he attended the Essence International School in Kaduna, as well as classes at the Rabiatu Mutallib Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. As a child he enjoyed playing PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
and basketball . According to one of his cousins, Abdulmutallab condemned his father's banking profession as "immoral" and "un-Islamic" for charging interest, urging him to quit.
Togo: High school years
He attended high school at the British International School in LoméLomé
Lomé, with an estimated population of 737,751, is the capital and largest city of Togo. Located on the Gulf of Guinea, Lomé is the country's administrative and industrial center and its chief port. The city exports coffee, cocoa, copra, and palm kernels...
, the capital of Togo
Togo
Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...
, a popular private school in West Africa. Abdulmutallab was known as a devout Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
and for preaching about Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
to his schoolmates. While at school, he was nicknamed "Alfa," which is a term for Muslim clerics, and "Pope" – both due to his piety. A teacher, John McGuinness, described Abdulmutallab as "incredibly polite and very hard-working" during this time, while also noting his devotion to the Muslim faith.
He was described as a "dream student" by his history teacher, Michael Rimmer. The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
interviewed Rimmer, who said that Abdulmutallab had defended the Taliban during classroom discussions of their social policies, and their destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan
Buddhas of Bamiyan
The Buddhas of Bamiyan were two 6th century monumental statues of standing buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley in the Hazarajat region of central Afghanistan, situated northwest of Kabul at an altitude of 2,500 meters...
. Rimmer described Abdulmutallab's family as "wonderful", and said he had been fond of Abdulmutallab. He also said he thought Abdulmutallab had been playing "devil's advocate
Devil's advocate
In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, just for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devil's advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative...
" during the classroom discussions, and that he had really understood Abdulmutallab, but concluded he had not understood him after all.
Abdulmutallab visited the U.S. for the first time in 2004.
Yemen: 2004–05
For the 2004–05 academic year, Abdulmutallab studied at the San'a Institute for the Arabic LanguageSan'a Institute for the Arabic Language
San'a Institute for the Arabic Language is located in the Old City of Sana'a, Yemen on Sa’ilah Street. The school specializes in teaching Arabic as a foreign language....
in Sana'a
Sana'a
-Districts:*Al Wahdah District*As Sabain District*Assafi'yah District*At Tahrir District*Ath'thaorah District*Az'zal District*Bani Al Harith District*Ma'ain District*Old City District*Shu'aub District-Old City:...
, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, and attended lectures at Iman University
Iman University
Iman University is a Sunni religious school founded in 1993 in San‘a’, Yemen...
.
Web postings
CNN reported that in regard to the Internet username "Farouk1986," "the many detailed biographical points made by the poster match what has been reported about Mutallab's life." On December 28, 2009, a U.S. government official said the government was reviewing the online postings, and has not yet independently confirmed the authenticity of the posts.CNN reported that, by 2005, "Farouk1986"'s postings "had a serious view of his religion." Tracey D. Samuelson of the Christian Science Monitor said that the posts "suggest a student preoccupied by university admissions and English soccer clubs, but who was also apparently lonely and conflicted." The Washington Post reviewed 300 online postings by "Farouk1986"; Philip Rucker and Julie Tate of the Washington Post said: "Taken together, the writings demonstrate an acute awareness of Western customs and a worldliness befitting Mutallab's privileged upbringing as a wealthy Nigerian banker's son." The user name posted on Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and on Islamic Forum (gawaher.com).
Farouk1986 discussed loneliness and marriage in his postings between 2005 and 2007, writing on January 28, 2005:
As i get lonely, the natural sexual drive awakens and i struggle to control it, sometimes leading to minor sinful activities like not lowering the gaze [in the presence of unveiled women]. And this problem makes me want to get married to avoid getting aroused.
And:
The hair of a woman can easily arouse a man. The Prophet (SAW)MuhammadMuhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
advised young men to fast if they can't get married but it has not been helping me much and I seriously don't want to wait for years before I get married. But i am only 18 ... It would be difficult for me to get married due to social norms of getting to the late 20's when one has a degree, a job, a house, etc before getting married. So usually my fa[n]tasies are about islamic stuff. The bad part of it is sometimes the fantasies are a bit worldly rather than concentrating in the hereafter.
In a posting on February 20, 2005, he wrote:
Alright, i wont go into too much details about me fantasy, but basically they are jihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
fantisies [sic]. I imagine how the great jihad will take place, how the muslims will win insha AllahInsha'AllahInsha'Allah is an Arabic term to indicate hope for an aforementioned event to occur in the future. The phrase translates into English as "God willing" or "If it is God's will", sometimes spoken as DV; the Latin abbreviation for Deo volente or simply "God willing"...
and rule the whole world, and establish the greatest empire once again!!!
And in a May 2005 posting, he referred to radical Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n-born Muslim cleric Abdullah el-Faisal
Abdullah el-Faisal
Abdullah el-Faisal is a muslim cleric who preached in the United Kingdom until he was convicted of stirring up racial hatred and urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindus, Christians, and...
, who had been imprisoned in the UK for urging his followers to murder Jews, Hindus, and Americans, writing:
“i thought once they are arrested, no one hears about them for life and the keys to their prison wards are thrown away. That’s what I heard sheikh faisal of UK say (he has also been arrested i heard).”
In January 2006 he chastised female users for not wearing the hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
, adding:
I don’t think it is allowed to be just friends with someone from the opposite sex. Except when thinking of marriage or when you have to work together.
London: September 2005 – June 2008
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
in September 2005, where he studied Engineering and Business Finance, and earned a degree in mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
in June 2008.
He was president of the school's Islamic Society
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
, which some sources have described as a vehicle for peaceful protest against the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom in the War on Terrorism
War on Terrorism
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
. During his tenure as president, along with political discussions, the club participated in activities such as martial arts training and paintballing; at least one of the Society's paintballing trips involved a preacher who reportedly said: “Dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to paradise.” He is the fourth president of a London student Islamic society to face terrorist charges in three years. He devoted more time while at school to the group's activities than to his studies, graduating with a 2:2, the second-lowest in the class, (equal to a grade point average of 3.0) according to a friend. He organized a conference in January 2007 under the banner “War on Terror Week”, and advertised speakers including political figures, human rights lawyers, speakers from Cageprisoners
Cageprisoners
Cageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
, and former Guantánamo Bay detainees. One lecture, Jihad v Terrorism, was billed as “a lecture on the Islamic position with respect to jihad”.
During those years he “crossed the radar screen” of MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
, the UK's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency, for radical links and “multiple communications” with Islamic extremists.
At the age of 21, Abdulmutallab told his parents that he wanted to get married; they refused to allow him to do so on the grounds that he had not earned a master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
.
On June 12, 2008, Abdulmutallab applied for and received from the U.S. consulate in London
Embassy of the United States in London
The Embassy of the United States of America to the Court of St. James's has been located since 1960 in the American Embassy London Chancery Building, in Grosvenor Square, Westminster, London...
a U.S. multiple-entry visa, valid to June 12, 2010, with which he visited Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, from August 1–17, 2008.
After graduating from university, Abdulmutallab made regular visits to Kaduna.
Dubai: January–July 2009
From January until July 2009, he attended a master's of international business degree program at University of Wollongong in DubaiUniversity of Wollongong in Dubai
The University of Wollongong in Dubai also known as UOWD is a private university located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. University of Wollongong in Dubai is one of the UAE’s oldest and most prestigious universities...
.
In May 2009, Abdulmutallab tried to return to Britain, ostensibly for a six-month "life coaching" program at what the British authorities concluded was a fictitious school; accordingly, his visa application was denied by the United Kingdom Border Agency. His name was placed on a UK Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
security watch list, which according to BBC News means he could not enter the UK, though passing through the country in transit was permissible and he was not permanently banned; the UK did not share the information with other countries. This is because the application was rejected to prevent immigration fraud
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
rather than for a national security purpose.
Yemen: August–December 2009
Intelligence officials suspect that Al-Qaeda in the Arabian PeninsulaAl-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is a militant Islamist organization, primarily active in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. It was named for al-Qaeda, and says it is subordinate to that group and its now-deceased leader Osama bin Laden, a Saudi citizen whose father was born in Yemen...
member, Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
, may have directed Abdulmutallab to Yemen for al-Qaeda training. Abdulmutallab's father agreed in July 2009 to his request to return to the San'a Institute for the Arabic Language in Yemen to study Arabic from August to September 2009. He arrived in the country in August.
Abdulmutallab was the only African student in the school of 70 students. A fellow student at the Institute said Abdulmutallab would start his day by going to the mosque for dawn prayers, and then would spend hours in his room reading the Quran. Ahmed Mohammed, one of his teachers, said Abdulmutallab spent the last 10 days of Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
sequestered in a mosque. He apparently left the Institute after a month, while remaining in-country.
His family became concerned in August 2009 when he called them to say he had dropped the course, but was remaining there. By September he routinely skipped his classes at the Institute and attended lectures at Iman University, notorious for suspected links to terrorism. “He told me his greatest wish was for sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
and Islam to be the rule of law across the world,” said one of his classmates at the Institute.
The Institute obtained an exit visa for him at his request, and on September 21 arranged for a car that took him to the airport. But the school's director said: "After that, we never saw him again, and apparently he did not leave Yemen". In October, Abdulmutallab sent his father a text message saying that he was no longer interested in pursuing an MBA in Dubai, and wanted instead to study sharia and Arabic in a seven-year course in Yemen. His father threatened to cut off his funding, whereupon Abdulmutallab said he was “already getting everything for free”. When his father asked who would sponsor him, Abdulmutallab replied "That's none of your business." Among the other text messages he sent to his father were: "I've found a new religion, the real Islam"; "You should just forget about me, I'm never coming back"; "Please forgive me. I will no longer be in touch with you"; and "Forgive me for any wrongdoing, I am no longer your child." The family last had contact with Abdulmutallab in October 2009.
Yemeni officials said that he was in Yemen from early August 2009, overstayed his student visa (which was valid through September 21), and left Yemen on December 7 (flying to Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, and then two days later to Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
). Yemeni officials have said that Abdulmutallab traveled to the mountainous Shabwah Province
Shabwah Governorate
Shabwah is a governorate of Yemen. Its main town is Ataq.-Districts:*Ain District*Al Talh District*Ar Rawdah District*Arma District*As Said District*Ataq District*Bayhan District*Dhar District*Habban District*Hatib District...
to meet with "al-Qaeda elements" before leaving Yemen. A video of Abdulmutallab and others training in a desert camp, firing weapons at targets including the Jewish star
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
, the British Union Jack, and the letters "UN", was produced by al-Qaeda in Yemen
Islamic Jihad of Yemen
The Islamic Jihad of Yemen is an al Qaeda terrorist affiliate that claimed responsibility for the 2008 American Embassy attack in Yemen...
(whose logo is in a corner of the screen). The tape also includes an apparent martyrdom statement from him, justifying his actions against "the Jews and the Christians and their agents." Ghanaian officials say he was there from December 9 until December 24, when he flew to Lagos.
In February 2010, a Yemeni security official said that 43 people were being interrogated for links to the Christmas Day attempt, including foreigners, some of them studying Arabic and others married to Yemeni women. Abdulmutallab was thought to have used Arabic studies as a pretext for entering the country.
Awareness by US Intelligence
On November 11, 2009, British intelligence officials sent the U.S. a cable indicating that a man named "Umar Farouk" had spoken to al-Awlaki, pledging to support jihad, but the cable did not reflect Abdulmutallab's last name. Abdulmutallab's father made a report to two CIA officers at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, on November 19 regarding his son's "extreme religious views", and told the embassy that Abdulmutallab might be in Yemen. Acting on the report, the suspect's name was added in November 2009 to the U.S.'s 550,000-name Terrorist Identities Datamart EnvironmentTerrorist Identities Datamart Environment
The Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, is the U.S. Government's central database on known or suspected international terrorists, and contains highly classified information provided by members of the Intelligence Community such as CIA, DIA, FBI, NSA, and many others.There are about 550,000...
, a database of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center
National Counterterrorism Center
The National Counterterrorism Center is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in a modern complex near McLean, Virginia called Liberty Crossing...
. It was not added, however, to the FBI's 400,000-name Terrorist Screening Database
Terrorist Screening Database
The Terrorist Screening Database or TSDB is the central terrorist watchlist consolidated by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center and used by multiple agencies to compile their specific watchlists and for screening. The list consists of 400,000 unique names and over 1,000,000 records as of...
, the terror watch list that feeds both the 14,000-name Secondary Screening Selectee list
Secondary Security Screening Selection
Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its acronym SSSS, is an airport security measure in the United States and Canada which selects passengers for additional inspection. This may also be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list...
and the U.S.'s 4,000-name No Fly List
No Fly List
The No Fly List is a list, created and maintained by the United States government's Terrorist Screening Center , of people who are not permitted to board a commercial aircraft for travel in or out of the United States. The list has also been used to divert away from U.S. airspace aircraft not...
, nor was his U.S. visa revoked.
U.S. State Department officials said in Congressional testimony that the State Department had wanted to revoke Abdulmutallab's visa, but U.S. intelligence officials requested that his visa not be revoked. The intelligence officials' stated reason was that revoking Abdulmutallab's visa could have foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaeda.
Abdulmutallab's name had come to the attention of intelligence officials many months before that, but no "derogatory information" was recorded about him. A Congressional official said that Abdulmutallab's name appeared in U.S. reports reflecting that he had connections to both al-Qaeda and Yemen. The NCTC did not check to see whether Abdulmutallab's American visa was valid, or whether he had a British visa that was valid; therefore, they did not learn that the British had rejected Abdulmutallab's visa application earlier in 2009. The British did not inform the Americans because the visa application was denied to prevent immigration fraud and not for a national security purpose.
Contact with Islamic extremists
The New York Times reported that "officials said the suspect told them he had obtained plastic explosives that were sewn into his underwear and a syringeSyringe
A syringe is a simple pump consisting of a plunger that fits tightly in a tube. The plunger can be pulled and pushed along inside a cylindrical tube , allowing the syringe to take in and expel a liquid or gas through an orifice at the open end of the tube...
from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al Qaeda."
Abdulmutallab had been a devout Muslim throughout his youth, but it is unclear when he became "radicalized." During his time in London, he reportedly visited the London Muslim Centre three times; the Centre is expected to be a focus of future investigations.
In April 2009, Abdulmutallab had applied to attend an Islamic seminar in Houston, Texas. He obtained a multiple-entry visa in the U.S. Consulate in June 2008 that would be valid until June 2010. He attended the Islamic seminar from August 1–17 at AlMaghrib Institute
AlMaghrib Institute
AlMaghrib Institute is a 501 nonprofit organization which focuses on teaching Islamic Sciences to Muslim communities within United States, Canada, United Kingdom and now Malaysia...
.
When Abdulmutallab returned to Yemen, purportedly to study Arabic again, he appeared to have undergone a personality change: he was more religious and "a loner", and wore traditional Islamic clothing. He rarely attended class, and sometimes he left class midway to go pray at a mosque.
Ties to Anwar al-Awlaki
A number of sources reported contacts between Abdulmutallab and Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim lecturer and spiritual leader who is accused of being a senior al-Qaeda talent recruiter and motivator. Al-Awlaki, previously an imamImam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
in the U.S. who more recently has lived in Yemen, also has links to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the 2005 London subway bombers, a 2006 Toronto terror cell
2006 Toronto terrorism case
The 2006 Ontario terrorism case refers to the plotting of a series of attacks against targets in Southern Ontario, Canada, and the June 2, 2006, counter-terrorism raids in and around the Greater Toronto Area that resulted in the arrest of 18 people found to be Al-Qaeda members of an Islamic...
, a 2007 Fort Dix attack plot
2007 Fort Dix attack plot
The 2007 Fort Dix attack plot involved a group of six radical Islamist men who conspired to stage an attack against U.S. Military personnel stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The alleged aim of the group was to "kill as many soldiers as possible"....
, and the 2009 Fort Hood shooter
Fort Hood shooting
The Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
.
With a blog and a Facebook page, he has been described as the "bin Laden of the internet."
Despite being banned from entering the UK in 2006, al-Awlaki spoke on at least seven occasions at five different venues around Britain via video-link in 2007–09. He gave a number of video-link lectures at the East London Mosque
East London Mosque
The East London Mosque, situated in the inner London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate, serves one of the UK's largest Muslim communities. It lies near the edge of the City of London, the capital's busy business area, and just a couple of miles from the fast-expanding London...
during this period. In one instance, the mosque provoked the outrage of The Daily Telegraph by hosting a video-teleconference by al-Awlaki in 2008, and former Shadow Home Secretary
Shadow Home Secretary
In British politics, the Shadow Home Secretary is the person within the shadow cabinet who 'shadows' the Home Secretary; this effectively means scrutinising government policy on home affairs including policing, national security, immigration, the criminal justice system, the prison service, and...
Dominic Grieve
Dominic Grieve
Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve, QC MP is a British Conservative politician, barrister and Queen's Counsel.He is the Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield and the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland.-Early life:Grieve was born in Lambeth, the son of...
expressed concern over al-Awlaki's involvement. On New Year's Day 2009 the mosque played a pre-recorded video lecture by al-Awlaki, with a poster depicting New York in flames. He also gave video-link talks in England to an Islamic student society at the University of Westminster
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
in September 2008, an arts center in East London in April 2009 (after the Tower Hamlets council gave its approval), worshipers at the Al Huda Mosque in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, and a dinner of the Cageprisoners
Cageprisoners
Cageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
organization in September 2008 at the Wandsworth Civic Centre in South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
(at which he said "We should make jihad for our brothers and an angel will make the same jihad for you"). On August 23, 2009, al-Awlaki was banned by local authorities in Kensington and Chelsea
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a central London borough of Royal borough status. After the City of Westminster, it is the wealthiest borough in England....
, London, from speaking at Kensington Town Hall
Kensington Town Hall
Kensington Town Hall is a former municipal hall in Kensington, Victoria, Australia.The classical style building, located in Bellair Street was first constructed in 1901.During World War II it was used as a command post...
via videolink to a fundraiser dinner for Guantanamo detainees promoted by Cageprisoners. His videos, which discuss his Islamist theories, have also circulated in England.
Pete Hoekstra
Pete Hoekstra
Peter "Pete" Hoekstra is a former Republican U.S. Representative for who served in the House from 1993 until 2011. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Michigan in 2010 and is expected to run for the United States Senate against Debbie Stabenow in 2012.-Early life and education:Born...
, the senior Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
on the House Intelligence Committee, said on the day of the attack that Obama administration officials and officials with access to law enforcement information told him "there are reports [the suspect] had contact [with al-Awlaki].... The question we'll have to raise is was this imam in Yemen influential enough to get some people to attack the U.S. again." He added: "The suspicion is ... that [the suspect] had contact with al-Awlaki. The belief is this is a stronger connection with al-Awlaki" than Hasan had. Hoekstra later said credible sources told him Abdulmutallab "most likely" has ties with al-Awlaki.
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
established that Abdulmutallab first met and attended lectures by al-Awlaki in 2005, when he was in Yemen to study Arabic. The two are also "thought to have met" in London, according to The Daily Mail. Fox News reported that evidence collected during searches of "flats or apartments of interest" connected to Abdulmutallab in London showed that he was a "big fan" of al-Awlaki, as web traffic showed he followed Awlaki's blog and website.
However, there is no clear evidence that the two men met in London. NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
reported that according to unnamed intelligence officials Abdulmutallab attended a sermon by al-Awlaki at the Finsbury Park Mosque
Finsbury Park Mosque
North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....
"in the fall of 2006 or 2007", but al-Awlaki was in fact in prison in Yemen during that period. The Finsbury Park Mosque
Finsbury Park Mosque
North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....
has stated: "neither Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab nor Anwar al-Awlaki has ever been invited to attend NLCM
Finsbury Park Mosque
North London Central Mosque in Finsbury Park, London was built in the 1990s to serve the large Muslim population in the area. It has a capacity of 1,800 people....
since we took charge of the mosque in February 2005. We can be certain that neither man has been given a platform at the mosque in any form". CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
and The Sunday Telegraph reported that Abdulmutallab attended a talk by al-Awlaki at the East London Mosque (which al-Awlaki may have participated in by video teleconference). However, The Sunday Telegraph has since removed the report from its website following a complaint by the East London Mosque
East London Mosque
The East London Mosque, situated in the inner London Borough of Tower Hamlets between Whitechapel and Aldgate, serves one of the UK's largest Muslim communities. It lies near the edge of the City of London, the capital's busy business area, and just a couple of miles from the fast-expanding London...
, who stated that "Anwar Al Awlaki did not deliver any talks at the ELM between 2005 and 2008, which is when the newspaper had falsely alleged that Abdullmutallab had attended such talks".
University of Oxford historian, and professor of international relations, Mark Almond
Mark Almond
Mark Almond is a writer and lecturer in Modern History at Oriel College, Oxford.Almond holds a Master's degree , and is the Chair of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group...
wrote that the suspect was "on American security watch-lists because of his links with ... Al-Awlaki".
CBS News said that the two were communicating in the months before the bombing attempt, and sources say that at a minimum al-Awlaki was providing spiritual support. According to federal sources, over the year prior to the attack, Abdulmutallab intensified electronic communications with al-Awlaki.
Intelligence officials suspect al-Awlaki may have directed Abdulmutallab to Yemen for al-Qaeda training. One government source described intercepted "voice-to-voice communication" between the two during the fall of 2009, saying that al-Awlaki "was in some way involved in facilitating [Abdulmutallab]'s transportation or trip through Yemen. It could be training, a host of things."
Abdulmutallab reportedly told the FBI that al-Awlaki was one of his trainers when he underwent al-Qaeda training in remote camps in Yemen, and there were "informed reports" that Abdulmutallab met al-Awlaki during his final weeks of training and indoctrination prior to the attack. According to a U.S. intelligence official, intercepts and other information point to connections between the two:
Some of the information ... comes from Abdulmutallab, who ... said that he met with al-Awlaki and senior al-Qaeda members during an extended trip to Yemen this year, and that the cleric was involved in some elements of planning or preparing the attack and in providing religious justification for it. Other intelligence linking the two became apparent after the attempted bombing, including communications intercepted by the National Security AgencyNational Security AgencyThe National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, as well as protecting U.S...
indicating that the cleric was meeting with "a Nigerian" in preparation for some kind of operation.
Yemen's Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs, Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi, said Yemeni investigators believe the suspect traveled in October to Shabwa, where he met with suspected al-Qaeda members in a house built by al-Awlaki and used by al-Awlaki to hold theological sessions, and that Abdulmutallab was trained and equipped there with his explosives. "If he went to Shabwa, for sure he would have met Anwar al-Awlaki," al-Alimi said. Al-Alimi also said he believed al-Awlaki is alive. A top Yemen government official said the two met with each other. And Abdul Elah al-Shaya, a Yemeni journalist, said a healthy al-Awlaki called him on December 28 and said that the Yemeni government's claims as to his death were "lies". Shaya declined to comment as to whether al-Awlaki had told him about any contacts he may have had with Abdulmutallab. According to Gregory Johnsen, a Yemeni expert at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, Shaya is generally reliable.
At the end of January 2010, a Yemeni journalist, Abdulelah Hider Sha’ea, said he met with al-Awlaki, who said he had met and spoken with Abdulmutallab in Yemen in the fall of 2009. Al-Awlaki also reportedly said Abdulmutallab was one of his students, that he supported what Abdulmutallab did but did not tell him to do it, and that he was proud of Abdulmutallab. A New York Times journalist listened to a digital recording of the meeting, and said that while the tape's authenticity could not be independently verified, the voice resembled that on other recordings of al-Awlaki.
Al-Awlaki released a tape in March 2010, in which he said, in part:
- To the American people ... nine years after 9/11, nine years of spending, and nine years of beefing up security you are still unsafe even in the holiest and most sacred of days to you, Christmas Day....
- Our brother Umar Farouk has succeeded in breaking through the security systems that have cost the U.S. government alone over 40 billion dollars since 9/11.
On April 6, 2010, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that President Obama had authorized the targeted killing
Targeted killing
Targeted killing is the deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed "unlawful combatant" who is not in that government's custody...
of al-Awlaki and he was killed in a drone attack in Yemen on September 30, 2011.
Attack
On Christmas Day 2009, Abdulmutallab traveled from Ghana to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 was an international passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands, to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan, United States...
en route to Detroit. He had purchased his ticket with cash in Ghana on December 16. Eyewitnesses Kurt Haskell and Lori Haskell told the Detroit News that prior to boarding the plane they witnessed a "smartly dressed man" possibly of Indian descent, around 50 years old, and who spoke "in an American accent similar to my own." helping Abdulmutallab onto the plane. They also testify that the ticket agent refused to allow Abdulmutallab on the plane because he did not have his own passport. These circumstances underlie some of the passengers' speculations that the U.S. government supplied a defective device to the perpetrator and a man in a tan suit with an American accent intervened, the matter was referred to a manager, and Abdulmutallab was then able to board the plane, presumably still without a passport.
Abdulmutallab spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom as the flight approached Detroit, and then covered himself with a blanket after returning to his seat. Other passengers then heard popping noises, smelled a foul odor, and some saw Abdulmutallab’s trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire. Fellow passenger Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director, jumped on Abdulmutallab and subdued him as flight attendants used fire extinguishers to douse the flames. Abdulmutallab was taken toward the front of the airplane cabin, was seen to have lost his trousers due to the fire, and had burns on his legs. When asked by a flight attendant what he had in his pocket, he replied: “Explosive device.” The device consisted of a six-inch (15-cm) packet which was sewn into his underwear containing the explosive powder PETN, which became a plastic explosive
Plastic explosive
Plastic explosive is a specialised form of explosive material. It is a soft and hand moldable solid material. Plastic explosives are properly known as putty explosives within the field of explosives engineering....
when mixed with the high explosive triacetone triperoxide (TAPN) (the same two explosives that were used by Richard Reid
Richard Reid (shoe bomber)
Richard Colvin Reid , also known as the Shoe Bomber, is a self-admitted member of al-Qaeda who pled guilty in 2002 in U.S. federal court to eight criminal counts of terrorism stemming from his attempt to destroy a commercial aircraft in-flight by detonating explosives hidden in his shoes...
in 2001), and a syringe containing liquid acid. Abdulmutallab created the explosive by mixing PETN with TAPN and other ingredients.
After being taken into custody, Abdulmutallab told authorities he had been directed by al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
, and that he had obtained the device in Yemen. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the organization's affiliate in Yemen, subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as revenge for the United States' role in a Yemeni military offensive against al-Qaeda in that country.
Aftermath
Two days after the attack, Abdulmutallab was released from a hospital where he had been treated for first and second degree burns to his hands, and second degree burns to his right inner thigh and genitalia, sustained during the attempted bombing. Abdulmutallab, Federal Bureau of PrisonsFederal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
Register# 44107-039, is in Federal Correctional Institution, Milan
Federal Correctional Institution, Milan
The Federal Correctional Institution, Milan is a U.S. federal prison in York Charter Township, Michigan, near Milan.This prison is a low-security facility for male inmates. Its adjacent Federal Detention Center houses pretrial and holdover inmates...
, a federal prison in York Charter Township, Michigan
York Charter Township, Michigan
York Charter Township is a charter township of Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 7,392 at the 2000 census.Federal Correctional Institution, Milan and the Toyota Technical Center are located in the township...
.
New restrictions were imposed on U.S travelers, but the government was quiet about many of them because it "wanted the security experience to be 'unpredictable'". One day after she said that the system had "worked", Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
acknowledged that the aviation security system had indeed failed.
President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
vowed that the U.S. government would track down all those responsible for the attack, and any attack being planned against the U.S. He also ordered a review of detection and watch list procedures. Saying that "totally unacceptable" systemic and human failures had occurred, Obama told reporters he was insisting on "accountability at every level," but did not give any details. Criticism of the system's failure to prevent Abdulmutallab from boarding the aircraft in the first place has been widespread; one critic, former FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
counterterrorism agent Ali Soufan, has said that it "should have been lighting up like a Christmas tree."
United States Senator Joe Lieberman
Joe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...
called for the Obama administration to pre-emptively curb terrorism in Yemen and halt plans to repatriate Guantanamo detainees to Yemen.
Peter Hoekstra and Congressional Representative Peter T. King
Peter T. King
Peter T. "Pete" King is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Republican Party. King's central Long Island district includes parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties....
also called for a halt to the repatriation of Guantanamo detainees from Yemen.
Bennie Thompson
Bennie Thompson
Bennie G. Thompson, is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993, and the ranking member of the Committee on Homeland Security since 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called for a halt to all current plans with regard to Yemen in light of Abdulmutallab's ties there.
Immediately after the attack, Lateef Adegbite, Secretary General of Nigeria's Supreme Council for Islamic Affair, condemned the attack and said: "We are embarrassed by this incident and we strongly condemn the alleged action by this young man. We do not think that there is any organised Islamic group in Nigeria that is inclined to such a criminal and violent act. We condemn such an extreme viewpoint and action."
On December 27, The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
reported that Abdulmutallab's suspected ties to jihadists from Yemen could potentially complicate the Obama administration's plans to release Yemeni detainees held in Guantanamo to Yemen.
On January 27, 2010 the House Committee on Homeland Security continued a series of hearings across Capitol Hill that started prior to January 27, 2010, all looking into the events leading up to and after the attempted bombing of Flight 253 over Detroit. Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa was not taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would have foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaeda threats against the United States.
Reactions in the Muslim and Arabic-speaking media were mixed, from suspicion that it was a "set-up to lure the media and expand the scope and depth of a new chapter in the war on terror", to concerns that Nigerians would now be "unduly stigmatized."
Incarceration and trial
Abdulmutallab was charged on December 26, 2009, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of MichiganUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan is the Federal district court with jurisdiction over of the eastern portion of the state of Michigan. The Court is based in Detroit, with courthouses also located in Ann Arbor, Bay City, Flint, and Port Huron...
, with two criminal counts: attempting to blow up and placing a destructive device on a U.S. civil aircraft. Additional charges were added in a grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
indictment on January 6, 2010, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
of 289 people. He is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Milan
Federal Correctional Institution, Milan
The Federal Correctional Institution, Milan is a U.S. federal prison in York Charter Township, Michigan, near Milan.This prison is a low-security facility for male inmates. Its adjacent Federal Detention Center houses pretrial and holdover inmates...
, Michigan, while awaiting further legal proceedings. If he is convicted on the charges, he will face a life sentence plus 90 years in prison.
Abdulmutallab initially cooperated with investigators, then stopped talking. The decision to read him his Miranda rights, advising him of his right to remain silent, generated criticism from a number of mostly Republican politicians. After the FBI brought two of Abdulmutallab's relatives from Nigeria to the U.S. to speak with him, he once again began to cooperate.
On September 14, 2010, the Associated Press reported Abdulmutallab had dismissed his court-appointed defense team in order to defend himself.
On October 12, 2011, Abdulmutallab, after consulting with his lawyer, was once again read the charges against him in a Detroit court and after each one, he pled guilty to eight charges, including conspiring to commit terrorism.
"The Koran allows every Muslim to undertake jihad," Abdulmutallab told the court after changing his plea. "I carried the device to avenge the killing of my Muslim brothers and sisters... Unfortunately, my actions make me guilty of a crime." Abdulmutallab called the failed explosives he had hidden in his underwear a "blessed weapon" and said he attempted to use it "because of the tyranny of the United States." Abdulmutallab had originally pleaded not guilty to all charges, including attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, but apparently changed his mind since the prosecution completed their opening arguments.
He is expected to be sentenced on 12 January 2012
See also
- Fort Hood shootingFort Hood shootingThe Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
- JihobbyistJihobbyistA “Jihobbyist” is a person who is not an active member of a violent jihadist organization such as Al-Qaeda or the Somali Al Shabaab, but who has a fascination with and enthusiasm for jihad and radical Islam....
- Naser Jason AbdoNaser Jason AbdoNaser Jason Abdo is a Muslim US Army Private First Class who is currently being held without bond for possession of an unregistered firearm and allegedly planning to attack a restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood.-Early life:Abdo grew up in Garland, Texas and attended Richardson Terrace...
- Michael FintonMichael FintonMichael C. Finton, also known as Talib Islam , a convert to Islam and a part-time cook at a fish and chicken restaurant, attempted to bomb the Paul Findley Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman Aaron Schock in downtown Springfield, Illinois, on September 24, 2009...
, American convert to Islam, attempted 2009 bombing of U.S. target with FBI agent he thought was al-Qaeda member - Sharif MobleySharif MobleySharif Mobley is a suspected al-Qaeda and al-Shabab member who was arrested in Yemen in March 2010 by counter-terrorism officers following a shooting in which he was allegedly the perpetrator. Mobley had moved to Yemen two years prior...
, American suspected al-Qaeda member, arrested in Yemen in 2010 and suspected of killing guard in escape attempt - Aafia SiddiquiAafia SiddiquiAafia Siddiqui is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison; in September 2010, she was sentenced by a United States district court to 86...
, female alleged al-Qaeda member, former U.S. resident, convicted in 2010 of attempting to kill U.S. personnel - Bryant Neal VinasBryant Neal VinasBryant Neal Vinas is a Hispanic Muslim American convicted of participating in and supporting Al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S....
, American convert to Islam, convicted in 2009 of participating in/supporting al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S. - Najibullah ZaziNajibullah ZaziNajibullah Zazi is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. Al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City subway system, and has pled guilty as have two other defendants. U.S...
, al-Qaeda member, U.S. resident, pleaded guilty in 2010 of planning suicide bombings on New York City subway system - Operation Arabian KnightOperation Arabian KnightOn June 5, 2010, in a covert anti-terrorism operation named "Operation Arabian Knight", Mohamed Mahmood Alessa and Carlos "Omar" Eduardo Almonte, two Muslim men from New Jersey, were arrested at Kennedy International Airport in New York City...
, 2010 arrest of two Muslim men from New Jersey on terrorism charges - Hasan Akbar caseHasan Akbar caseThe Hasan Akbar case refers to an event in the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, when Hasan Karim Akbar was convicted of the double-murder of two officers assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait.The victims were Army...
American Muslim convert convicted of the double-murder of two US Army officers.
External links
- Criminal Complaint and Affidavit for U.S. v. Abdulmutallab, December 25, 2009
- Indictment in U.S. v. Abdulmutallab, January 6, 2010