Farouk Abdulmutallab, the young Nigerian who tried to blow up a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day in 2009 has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Farouk pleaded guilty in October to eight charges, including the attempted murder of 289 people on board Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
“I am guilty of this count in US law but not in the Koran,” he said in a six-minute speech on the second day of his trial.
The bomb hidden in his underwear failed to properly detonate and instead simply caused a fire as the plane began its descent, passengers and crew members were able to restrain him, extinguish the blaze, allowing pilots to safely land the plane.
On monday his counsel filed a motion seeking a lesser sentence with the argument that life in prison is unwarranted
But the U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds, who was due to sentence Abdulmutallab in a hearing today declined to consider a lesser sentence than life in prison.