Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab
Status	Awaiting indictment, incarcerated in U.S. federal prison, Milan Michigan
Other names	Omar Farooq al-Nigeri, Umar AbdulMutallab
Occupation	Engineering student
Parent	Alhaji Umaru Mutallab (father)
Criminal charge	Bringing a destructive device onto, and attempting to destroy, a U.S. civil aircraft

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab (also referred to as Umar Abdulmutallab and Omar Farooq al-Nigeri; born December 22, 1986, in Lagos, Nigeria) is a Muslim Nigerian citizen who attempted to detonate an explosive hidden in his underwear during a December 25, 2009, terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan.

He was charged on December 26, 2009, with attempting to blow up a U.S. passenger plane, and is due to face trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He is in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, in Milan, Michigan.

Background

Mutallab is the son of former First Bank PLC chairman Alhaji Umaru Mutallab. The family comes from the farming town of Funtua in Katsina State. Mutallab attended the British School of Lomé, in Lomé, the capital of Togo; that private school is popular among wealthy Nigerians. He was described as a "dream student" by his history teacher Michael Rimmer. Another teacher, John McGuinness, described Mutallab as "incredibly polite and very hard-working" during this time, while also noting his devotion to the Muslim faith; he was nicknamed "Alfa," which is a term for Muslim clerics. He graduated from the British School of Lomé, spent a summer studying Arabic in Yemen, and then studied at University College London, where he was enrolled in the department of mechanical engineering from September 2005 to June 2008. While in London, he reportedly lived in a ₤4 million apartment in Mansfield Street, in the city's West End. At University College London, Mutallab was the president of the Islamic Society, which reportedly often operated as a vehicle for peaceful protest against the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom in the War on Terrorism.

The Telegraph interviewed Mike Rimmer, his high school teacher, who reported that he had defended the Taliban during classroom discussions of their social policies, and their destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Rimmer described Mutallab's family as "wonderful", and said he had been fond of Mutallab. He also said he thought Mutallab had been playing "devil's advocate" during the classroom discussions, and that he had really understood Mutallab, but concluded he had not understood him after all.

Mutallab is known to have been a soccer fan and supported Arsenal Football Club. Conversely, British media described Mutallab as a Liverpool Football Club supporter.

CNN reported that in regards to the internet username "Farouk1986," "the many detailed biographical points made by the poster match what has been reported about Mutallab's life." On Monday December 28, 2009, a U.S. government official stated that the government is reviewing the online postings, and that it has not yet independently confirmed the authenticity of the posts. CNN stated that, by 2005, "Farouk1986"'s postings "had a serious view of his religion." Tracey D. Samuelson of the Christian Science Monitor stated that the posts by the user "suggest a student preoccupied by university admissions and English soccer clubs, but who was also apparently lonely and conflicted." The Washington Post reviewed 300 online postings by "Farouk1986"; Philip Rucker and Julie Tate of the Washington Post said "Taken together, the writings demonstrate an acute awareness of Western customs and a worldliness befitting Mutallab's privileged upbringing as a wealthy Nigerian banker's son." The user name posted on Facebook and on Islamic Forum (gawaher.com).

Reported contact with Islamic extremists

As reported in the New York Times on December 26, 2009, "officials said the suspect told them he had obtained explosive chemicals and a syringe that were sewn into his underwear from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al Qaeda."

Mutallab had been a devout Muslim throughout his youth, but it is unclear when he became "radicalized." During his time in London, he reportedly visited the London Muslim Centre three times; the Center is expected to be a focus of future investigations. Since his graduation from the University College London, Mutallab continued his studies in Dubai and Yemen. In May 2009, British officials rejected his application for a renewed student visa. He made a telephone call to his father in October 2009, which prompted his father to contact Nigerian security officials and the U.S. Embassy:

"His father, a prominent Nigerian banker and former government official, phoned the American Embassy in Abuja in October with a warning that his son had developed radical views, had disappeared and might have traveled to Yemen. But embassy officials did not revoke the young man’s visa to enter the United States, which was good until June 2010 .... And when they passed the information on to Washington, Mutallab’s name was added to 550,000 others with some alleged terrorist connections — but not to the no-fly list."

In April 2009, Mutallab had applied to attend an Islamic seminar in Houston, Texas. He obtained a multiple-entry visa in the US Consulate in June 2008 that would be valid until June 2010. He attended the Islamic seminar from August 1-17 at AlMaghrib Institute. Mutallab returned to Yemen, purportedly to study Arabic again, he appeared to have undergone a personality change: more religious and "a loner", and showing himself wearing traditional Islamic clothing. He returned to Nigeria in December 2009.

The senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Representative Pete Hoekstra, said officials in the Obama administration and officials with law enforcement information access told him that Mutallab may have had contact with Anwar al-Awlaki.

Attack

Main article: Northwest Airlines Flight 253

From Nigeria, Mutallab traveled to Amsterdam, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route to Detroit, Michigan, on December 25, Christmas Day. His ticket had been bought for cash in Ghana on December 16.

Passengers and crew aboard the plane said Mutallab spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom as it approached Detroit and then covered himself with a blanket after returning to his seat, the Justice Department said. They then heard popping noises and smelled a foul odour and some saw Mutallab’s trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire. When asked by a flight attendant what he had in his pocket, he replied “explosive device.” The device consisted of a six-inch (15-cm) packet of powder and a syringe containing a liquid, which were sewn into the suspect’s underwear, according to media reports.

Passengers reported smelling smoke and saw that something in his lap was on fire. Fellow passenger Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director, jumped on Mutallab, and he and other passengers subdued him as flight attendants used fire extinguishers to douse the flames. At this point, Mutallab was taken toward the front of the airplane cabin, and was seen to have lost his pants due to the fire, and had burns on his legs. After being taken into custody, Mutallab told authorities he had been directed by al Qaeda. He said that the device was obtained in Yemen, along with instructions from al-Qaeda on how to use it. Authorities have not yet confirmed his statements. However, the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack, describing it as revenge for the United States' role in a Yemeni military offensive against al Qaeda in that country.

The attack came near the eighth anniversary of the attempt by Richard Reid to blow up a plane using explosives hidden in his shoe.

Aftermath

New restrictions were imposed on U.S travelers with the government being vague about many of them because "it wanted the security experience to be 'unpredictable'". One day after she said that the system had "worked", Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano acknowledged that the aviation security system had indeed failed. President Barack Obama vowed that the U.S. government would track down all those responsible for the attack and any attack being planned against the U.S. homeland. He also ordered a full review of detection and watch list procedures in the aftermath of the incident. Stating that a "totally unacceptable" systemic and human failures had occurred, Obama told reporters that he was insisting on "accountability at every level" but gave no details.

United States Senator Joe Lieberman called for the Obama administration to pre-emptively act on curbing terrorism in Yemen and to halt plans to repatriate Guantanamo detainees to Yemen. Peter Hoekstra, a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee called for a halt to the repatriation of Guantanamo detainees from Yemen. Bennie Thompson, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, called for a halt to all current plans with regard to Yemen in light of Abdulmutullab's ties there. Congressional Representative Peter T. King called for a halt to the prisoner releases.

Immediately after the attack, Lateef Adegbite, secretary general of Nigeria's Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs condemned the attack and stated "We are embarrassed by this incident and we strongly condemn the alleged action by this young man. We do not think that there is any organised Islamic group in Nigeria that is inclined to such a criminal and violent act. We condemn such an extreme viewpoint and action."

Former Radio Nigeria Journalist and host Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo, a Canadian based international renowned Journalist from Nigeria appeared on several US and Canadian cable news channels including CNN, FOX News, CTV News Channel and CFRB 1010 News Radio in Toronto offering the Nigerian perspective of the situation. She described the father of the suspect as a HERO and a very community caring man who lead Nigeria's oldest bank First Bank of Nigeria. On a special edition of CNN's Larry King Live on December 27th 2009, she also spoke about the fact that even though Nigeria has been known for some bad things like internet fraud and drug trafficking in the past, terror suspect Umar Muttalab just made things worse for the country's image as it turns 50 this year.

Omololu-Olunloyo later told CNN's Randi Kaye on CNN's breakfast show "American Morning" the next day December 28th 2009 that even though she had spoken to a member of the suspect's family on condition of anonymity, the family was quite distraught and were planning to release a statement. She also stated that what the elder Muttalab did by alerting the US Embassy was "unheard of" and that US Homeland Security missed a big clue. Omololu-Olunloyo later told Kaye on the show about the problem of religious extremism, persecution and radical behavior in Nigeria quoting "We have a lot of problems in Nigeria. Many Nigerians accept these problems and some don't want to accept it. We have a problem of extremism and radical behavior in Nigeria, particularly in the north. No one is saying that Muslims are the only ones that are radical, but we have to really face the truth. I mean, this kind of behavior has cost so much in Nigeria. The Miss World pageant they had to move that because of all this fighting and radical behavior"

At the end of the interview, Omololu-Olunloyo appealed to United States Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano to "dig deeper" as she felt the system did not work, something Napolitano stated earlier with respect to the system having worked. Napolitano backtracked that statement later in the day by appearing on CNN and several media outlets stating that the system in fact failed. It was later reported by several media organizations

Meanwhile, on the leading Canadian news cable channel CTV Newschannel (formerly CTV NewsNet) Omololu-Olunloyo spoke in a live interview stating that after speaking to an anonymous family source, she learned about the terror suspect's travels from London to Egypt then on to Dubai and Yemen and was never heard from again. Omololu-Olunloyo said she personally did not believe that he was radicalized in the United States. She also stated that her sentiments was shared by the Nigerian print media who printed headlines such as "shameful kid" "shame to the country" and several others. She appealed to Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano to excersice patience on the arrival of the CIA in the northern Nigerian province of Katsina to begin investigations.

Meanwhile on FOX News Channel on the morning on December 27th 2009, Omololu-Olunloyo was asked by Eric Shawn of FNC show "American News Headquarters" if one would compare the Muttalab family to the Rockefellers? She compared the Muttalab family to the Kennedys, America's renowned political family. She specifically made the comparison based on being affluent, tight knit, community caring and stating that terror suspect Umar Muttalab had now become an outcast after disowning his own family before heading to Yemen and allegedly trying to blow up an airline. Olunloyo also appeared on other FOX news shows including Greta Van Susteren's show on the evening of December 26th 2009.

The Wall Street Journal stated on December 27 that Mutallab's suspected ties to jihadists from Yemen potentially complicates President Barack Obama's plans to release detainees held in Guantanamo to Yemen.

References

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