Nigerian man pleads not guilty to Christmas Day airline bomb bid
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was arraigned yesterday on six charges. The most severe carries up to life in prison – the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
The hearing was brief. Abdulmutallab walked into the courtroom wearing a white T-shirt and trousers.
He answered “yes” in English when asked if he understood the charges against him.
After that, his lawyer said Abdulmutallab would stand mute to the charges. The US magistrate judge said a not guilty plea would be entered on his behalf.
Abdulmutallab arrived at federal court in Detroit yesterday for his arraignment on charges that he failed to detonate a chemical-laden explosive on the Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day.
Experts say that with so much evidence stacked against Abdulmutallab, his defence team is left with few options as the case moves forward.
Attorneys outside the case say the 23-year-old’s lawyers can challenge incriminating statements to the FBI, seek a mental-health exam for Abdulmutallab – and seriously consider a plea deal.
“This is not a case of mistaken identity or a whodunit. For the defence, it’s damage control,” said Joseph Niskar, a defence lawyer who was involved in a 2001 terrorism case in Detroit that fell apart for the government.
A federal grand jury has indicted Abdulmutallab this week on six charges, including one that could put him away for life: the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill nearly 300 people. That weapon, according to the government, was an explosive hidden under his clothing. The FBI says Abdulmutallab tried to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals.
US Marshals Service said Abdulmutallab arrived at the courthouse Friday in a dark Chevy SUV that drove into an underground entrance. The vehicle was led and followed by police cars with flashing lights and short siren blasts.
Outside the court, authorities set up metal barricades and limited foot traffic in the area. A protester stood holding a sign that read: “No US Rights For Terrorists.” A few others gathered including a handful of local Muslim community members who held an American flag and a sign saying: “Not in the name of Islam.”
Maryam Uwais, a lawyer in Nigeria, and Mahmud Kazaure, a lawyer from Maryland, said at the courthouse that they were sent by Abdulmutallab’s family to observe yesterday’s arraignment.
Neither have a role in the case, but both spoke briefly with the suspect’s legal team. They declined to further comment.
US President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, has said Abdulmutallab would be offered a plea deal in exchange for valuable information about his contacts in Yemen and elsewhere.
Abdulmutallab’s lawyer, Detroit’s top federal defender Miriam Siefer, declined to comment, and Detroit’s new US attorney, Barbara McQuade, said no offer has been made yet.
“We’ll take the case one step at a time,” said McQuade, who handled national security cases before her promotion. “If he wants to plead guilty he has the right to do that. We need to prepare as if this case is going to trial.”
Some attorneys, however, doubt that Abdulmutallab would want to co-operate with investigators.
“A person who wants to blow himself up in an airplane over Detroit is not looking to shave some time off in the big house,” said Lloyd Meyer, a former terrorism prosecutor at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
“I have no doubt he will welcome the world stage of a federal courtroom. They want a public forum. They want the spotlight to show why they are holy warriors against the great Satan.”
Since the failed attack, security at airports in the US and around the world has tightened as the Obama administration acknowledged government missteps in the near-catastrophe.
The US president announced changes designed to fix that, including new terror watch list guidelines.
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