Trial of Nigerian who attempted to blow up American airliner begins today

The trial of a young African man accused of trying to bring down an airliner near Detroit with a bomb in his underwear is no whodunit. Prosecutors have his hospital-bed confession, dozens of witnesses, remnants of the explosive and an al Qaeda video featuring the 24-year-old explaining his suicide mission.

Nonetheless, the prosecution of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab carries high stakes. His failed attack was the first act of terrorism in the United States during the Obama administration, and it could have implications in the debate over whether terrorism suspects should be tried in civilian or military courts.

The case, which starts today with jury selection, also revealed the rise of a dangerous al Qaeda affiliate and the growing influence of a radical Islamic cleric, who was killed by a CIA-U.S. military strike only last week.

Abdulmutallab, a well-educated Nigerian from an upper-class family who has pleaded not guilty, was directed by American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and said he wanted to become a martyr on Christmas 2009 when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam with 290 passengers and crew, according to the government.

A conviction on multiple charges could bolster the argument that suspected terrorists should be prosecuted through civilian courts, not military proceedings. Full-throated bipartisan opposition forced the Obama administration to cancel a New York trial for professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, although there have been no similar issues in Detroit.

"Convictions that are achieved in federal court using proper procedures will be upheld on appeal. That's simply too powerful a tool for the president not to use," said Vijay Padmanabhan, a former State Department lawyer who handled cases involving terror-related detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abdulmutallab faces eight charges, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The government says he wanted to blow up the plane by detonating chemicals in his underwear, just seven minutes before Flight 253 was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

But the bomb didn't work. Passengers assisted by crew members saw flames and pounced on Abdulmutallab.

Smoke was everywhere and "we thought we were losing our lives," said Patricia "Scotti" Keepman of Oconomowoc, Wis., who was seated many rows behind Abdulmutallab with her husband, daughter and two newly adopted children from Ethiopia.

The government says Abdulmutallab willingly explained the plot twice, first to U.S. border officers who took him off the plane and then in more detail to FBI agents who interviewed him at a hospital following treatment for serious burns to his groin.

Abdulmutallab told authorities he trained in Yemen, home base for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. He said he was influenced by al-Awlaki, who was killed Friday by an air strike that President Obama called a major blow to al Qaeda's most dangerous franchise.

SF Gate

Related stories:  Al-Qaeda groomed Nigerian terrorist in London

Messageboard post by Nigerian terrorist shows he was suffering from depression

Family of Nigerian bomb suspect issues statement

Video report on Nigerian terrorist attempt to blow up U.S. airliner

Nigerian tries to blow up U.S. airliner

Nigerian terrorist is son of former First Bank chairman

Training school belonging to Islamic radical group Boko Haram found in Taraba, Nigeria

 

Video - Nigeria and China strengthen ties

Nigeria and China discuss issues for closer relations.

Man sets family on fire

Independence Day shocker - An independence day tragedy occurred in Enugu, capital of the south east Enugu State, on Saturday as a middle aged man burnt members of his family, including his pregnant wife and two sons, aged between two and three years, according local news reports.

The youngest son of the family, who went into coma following injuries sustained in the inferno, was later revived at the National Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu, two hours after the incident, which occurred in the afternoon, while the wife, identified as Njideka, and the first son are now on the danger list at the hospital.

The reports said the man, Alexander Ndubuisi Egeonu, who is now at large, had, on arrival at his container shop in a suburb of Enugu, where he sells musical records and Compact Discs, asked his wife to escort him to the gas station to buy fuel.

Thinking that the fuel was meant for their generator, the wife willingly complied.

But shortly after returning to the shop, Egeonu went to a neighbour’s shop and began to drag the owner (a woman) to his own shop, claiming that she was indebted to him.

The woman began to shout and attracted neighbours and passers-by, who promptly rescued her from the man, said to be very troublesome.

“Immediately the man returned to his shop, he tied the hands of his wife and poured fuel on the floor. He, thereafter, locked the wife and his two sons inside the container and set the container ablaze through the window,” the reports quoted eyewitnesses as saying.

The pregnant woman and her two sons were severely burnt before neighbours forced the container open and brought them out. They were rushed to the Eastern Nigeria Medical Centre for treatment.

The pregnant woman and her first son, said to be in critical condition, were later transferred to the National Orthopedic Hospital.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect took to his heels after setting his family members ablaze and has not been found.

He said that investigations had commenced to ascertain the motive of the arsonist, adding that the police would do everything possible to apprehend the suspect.

Nigeria's 51st independence anniversary witnessed low-key celebrations across the country as officials and other participants stayed away from parade grounds following the twin bomb attack threats by the Boko Haram religious sect and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

Afriquejet

Related stories: Man sets Pregnant Wife on Fire

50 year old man beheads his wife

Former Miss Nigeria Munachi Abii rap album coming out soon

Ex-beauty queen turned musician, Munachi Abii is warming up to come out with a new album entitled 'The Goddess, the Hustler'.

The light-skinned International Relations graduate and ex-Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria said the album will soon be out.

"I am still doing little work about the album and there are lots of things I need to put in place before it finally comes out. I don't want to bring it out without publicity. I have a lot of things in store for everyone. It will be shocking and I am looking forward to it.

"The album is entitled 'The Goddess, the Hustler'. I have recorded a lot of songs we are in the process of elimination. So, we shall settle for 10 to 12 tracks at the end of the day.

"The album is all about me; it is just a way of giving myself back to the society. This is the way to express myself to those who don't know me.

"This is the best way I can express myself because I don't like talking too much but with my music, I can tell you a lot of things. So, the album is about me.

"I am up and coming and I am happy that my career is on the right path," she said with enthausiasm.

Daily Trust

Related stories: First African playmate of the year Ida Ljungqvist

Search has begun for next elite supermodel

7 arrested for the slaying of 19 people in Zamfara

Zamfara State Governor Abdul'Aziz Yari Abubakar has confirmed that the police have arrested seven suspects in connection with the Saturday attack on Lingyado village where 19 people were reportedly killed and several others injured.

The governor, who spoke to newsmen yesterday in Gusau on the 12 years of shari'ah implementation and the15th anniversary of the state, said the Commissioner of Police confirmed the arrest to him, assuring that the suspects would be moved to the state capital for prosecution. It seems they have developed their own criminal investigation schools.

He said the state might request the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, to release a patrol helicopter to comb the forest hideout of the bandits "because tracking them with vehicles is proving unsuccessful, as they operate with motorcycles".

According to the governor, security reports have shown that the attackers are mostly from outside the state and are from countries as far as the Central African Republic.

He said reports reaching him from the Emir of Dansadau showed that the villagers were seeking refuge at neighbouring villages.

Claiming that the attackers were based in Magami area of Maradun Local Government Area, the governor said the information available to the sole administrator of the council area had indicated that the attackers planned to attack Lingyado and another village.

The governor, who regretted that the attack had occurred before government officials could communicate the information to the state capital, said security agents were, however, quickly mobilized to avert the attack on the other village.

Recounting series of attacks that had so far led to the death of over 30 people in Dansadau, the governor said "it started when some groups of Fulani men proclaimed that nobody, except them, could ever again own cattle in the area."

This, according to him, made villagers, in collaboration with vigilante groups kill suspected robbers of Fulani descent; a development he attributed to the series of reprisal attacks in the area.

If the security agencies were under his command, he claimed, the attacks would have been averted. "That is why I don't blame people agitating for state police because if you cannot hire and fire a person, you can hardly control him/her," he said.

Daily Trust

Related stories: Gunmen kill 19 villagers in Zamfara

Video - Secterian killing in Jos