Terror trial: Abdulmutallab performed rituals on plane before attempting to detonate bomb, court told

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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