Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
A young African man with dark skin, short black hair, and brown eyes, wearing a white T-shirt.
Born (1986-12-22) 22 December 1986 (age 37)
Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
EducationEssence International School
The British School of Lome
Alma materUniversity College London
Iman University
Criminal charge(s)Pleaded guilty to the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, the attempted murder of 289 people, the attempted destruction of a civilian aircraft, placing a destructive device on an aircraft, and possession of explosives[1]
Criminal penaltyFour consecutive life sentences plus 50 years without the possibility of parole[2]
Criminal statusIncarcerated at the United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX, near Florence, Colorado

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (Arabic: عمر فاروق عبد المطلب; also known as Umar Abdul Mutallab and Omar Farooq al-Nigeri; born 22 December 1986)[3][4] popularly referred to as the "Underwear Bomber" or "Christmas Bomber",[5] is a Nigerian terrorist who, at the age of 23, attempted to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underwear while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, U.S. on 25 December 2009.[1][4][6]

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed to have organised the attack with Abdulmutallab; they said they supplied him with the bomb and trained him. Connections to al-Qaeda and Anwar al-Awlaki have been found, although the latter denied ordering the bombing.

Abdulmutallab was convicted in a U.S. federal court of eight federal criminal counts, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder of 289 people. On 16 February 2012, he was sentenced to 4 life terms plus 50 years without parole.[7] He is incarcerated at ADX Florence, the supermax federal prison in Colorado.

  1. ^ a b "Indictment in U.S. v. Abdulmutallab" (PDF). CBS News. January 6, 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  2. ^ "Underwear bomber Abdulmutallab sentenced to life". BBC News. February 16, 2012. Archived from the original on February 16, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  3. ^ Meyer, Josh and Peter Nicholas (December 29, 2009). "Obama calls jet incident a 'serious reminder'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 30, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  4. ^ a b "U.S. v. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Criminal Complaint" (PDF). as reproduced on Huffington Post. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2009.
  5. ^ "I hope to see him in my lifetime — Abdul Mutallab, billionaire father of jailed 'Underwear Bomber' Farouk". Vanguard News. January 5, 2022. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  6. ^ "Underwear bomber: Nigerians divided over Mutallab's life jail verdict". Vanguarg News. February 17, 2012. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  7. ^ "'Underwear bomber' Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab handed life sentence". The Guardian. Associated Press. February 16, 2012. Archived from the original on June 15, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2020 – via www.theguardian.com.