The attorney handling Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s case, a Nigerian
allegedly on a terrorist mission for al-Qaeda, opened the trial in a
Detroit court in the United States on Tuesday, saying the accused
engaged in rituals inside the plane before attempting to detonate the
bomd.
Assistant United States attorney, Jonathan Tukel, in his opening
statement added that “virtually everyone aboard Northwest Airlines
Flight 253 had holiday plans, but Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab believed his
calling was martyrdom.
In the plane's bathroom,Tukel said "he (Abdulmutallab) was engaging
in rituals. He was preparing to die and enter heaven," Tukel said. "He
purified himself. He washed. He brushed his teeth. He put on perfume. He
was praying and perfuming himself to get ready to die."
A prosecutor told jurors that Abdulmutallab “prayed, washed and put
on perfume moments before trying to detonate a bomb in his underwear to
bring down an international jetliner on Christmas Day in 2009.
“After returning to his seat, Abdulmutallab pushed a small plunger on
the chemical bomb in his underwear, an action that produced a pop.”
“The bomb didn't work as planned but Abdulmutallab was engulfed in
flames,” said Tukel, who displayed the flight's seating chart on a
screen to show jurors where things happened on the plane.
According to CBC News, “opening statements began after an unexplained
70-minute recess requested by Abdulmutallab and his attorney, Anthony
Chambers, shortly after they entered the courtroom.”
Abdulmutallab is charged with conspiring to commit terrorism and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
The CBC News reported that Abdul-mutallab, 24, came to court wearing a
dashiki, an African gown, and black skull cap and was silent as he
settled at the defence table.
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