Underwear bomber gets a life sentence

A Nigerian who tried to blow up an international flight near Detroit on behalf of al-Qaida has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

The mandatory punishment for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was never in doubt after he pleaded guilty in October.

The 25-year-old said that the bomb in his underwear was a “blessed weapon”, to avenge poorly-treated Muslims worldwide.

The bomb failed to fully detonate on board the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight but caused a brief fire which burned Abdulmutallab.

He admitted afterwards that the attack was inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric and leading al-Qaida figure who was killed by a US drone strike last autumn.

Federal Judge Nancy Edmunds announced the sentence in a crowded courtroom which included passengers from Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

Earlier, four passengers and a crew member told Judge Edmunds that the event changed their lives.

Abdulmutallab looked disinterested during their remarks — he rarely looked up while seated just a few feet away, wearing a white skull cap and an oversized prison T-shirt.

Abdulmutallab “has never expressed doubt or regret or remorse about his mission,” the judge said. “In contrast, he sees that mission as divinely inspired and a continuing mission.”

Life in prison is a “just punishment for what he has done. The defendant poses a significant ongoing threat to the safety of American citizens everywhere.”