As expected, a federal judge in Detroit today sentenced Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, aka the Underwear Bomber and Captain Underpants, to life in prison for his failed attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight en route to Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009. Since the federal system has no parole, a life sentence means exactly that.

“The defendant has never expressed doubt or regret or remorse about his mission... “To the contrary, he sees that mission as divinely inspired and a continuing mission.” [Judge Nancy Edmonds] said she can't control his motives, but she can control his opportunity.

She ordered the life sentences to be served consecutively. As he was led out of the courtroom, he said, "G-d is Great."

In Abdulmutallab's statement to the Court, he ranted against Jews (see below for quotes): [More...]

The Defense Department has filed charges against Guantanamo detainee Majid Khan. The case will be proceed via military commission, and according to the Miami Herald, is "the first war court case entirely initiated during the administration of President Barack Obama."

Majid Kahn, one of two lawful U.S. residents at Guantanamo, graduated from high school in Baltimore, MD. The Herald reports:

[Kahn] allegedly recorded a martyr’s message and donned an explosive vest in a 2002 attempt to kill Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf at a mosque. The attack failed because Musharraf never arrived. Pakistani authorities arrested Khan the next year and turned him over to the United States.

Kahn was held in secret overseas prisons and interrogated until 2006 when the Bush administration sent him to Guantanamo. His lawyers filed suit alleging he was tortured.

[More...]

The Government filed its sentencing statement today in the case of Detroit Underwear Bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Abudulmutallab is set for sentencing Feb. 16. Some of the counts he pleaded guilty to carry a mandatory life sentence. The Government says a life sentence is also warranted because he remains committed to martyrdom. It attached the report of Dr. Simon Perry, a criminologist and professor from Hebrew University in Jerusalem and former Israeli police officer/official (for 30 years) to support its position. Interestingly, Perry never interviewed Abdulmutallab. He's based his opinion on FBI debriefings he was not present at, Umar's statements to the court at sentencing, interviews with various people and his knowledge of terrorism and martyrs. [More...]

A motions hearing is underway at Guantanamo in the military commission proceeding against detainee and U.S.S. Cole bombing suspect Abd al Rahim al Nashiri. Here's the agenda. Miami Herald/McClatchy reporter Carol Rosenberg provides this backdrop. She's also at Gitmo tweeting updates. The hearing is being broadcast by closed circuit at Ft. Meade.

The big issue involves the reading of al Nashiri's legal mail. Gitmo Chief Adm. Woods will testify tomorrow about how the prison staff is reviewing legal mail. (Update: He is testifying today.) The defense motion is now available here on the court's website (You have to click on al-Nashiri's active case and then bring up the docket and then scroll down to 12/19 for the motion.) [More...]

Guantanamo Commander, Navy rear Adm. David Woods, has sent a 27 page memo to defense lawyers representing clients charged in military commission proceedings which includes a provision that attorney-client mail will be submitted to a security review.

The memo asked the lawyers to sign and approve the the memo within 48 hours. Instead, the lawyers filed an objection.

The defense objection, filed December 19, is listed on the Guantanamo docket "Defense Motion to Bar JTF-GTMO from Interfering with the Defendant's Right to Receive Confidential Legal Mail and Access to the Courts". The site says it is undergoing a security review. If deemed publically releasable, it will be made available to the public 15 business days after the document was filed with the court.

The next hearing in al-Nashiri's case is Jan. 12. On Dec. 21, Gitmo sent out this invitation to the press to attend.

The Military Commission's website last night posted the transcript of yesterday's four hour hearing for al-Nashiri. (Go here, click on second al-Nashiri link, it's the top document. There is no direct link.)

It wasn't just an arraignment. The judge heard argument on and granted the defense motion to prevent Gitmo and prosecutors from reading his legal mail (with some exceptions.) The Court also heard argument on al-Nashiri's motion seeking to have the military jury advised at the start of trial if an acquittal won't result in his release (see my earlier post on this here.) The Court addressed an issue of potential conflict of interest for one of the defense lawyers, Michael Paradis who represented al Bahlul in appealing his conviction by military commission and life sentence. Al-Bahlul is named as a co-conspirator of al-Nashiri's in Charge V. [More...]

As Guantanamo detainee Abd al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Abdu Al-Nashiri is arraigned on capital charges of masterminding al Qaida's 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, lawyers are also arguing some important motions. Chief among them is: If al-Nashiri is acquitted, will he be released? Miami Herald Reporter Carol Rosenberg is live-tweeting the proceedings. Here's a handy twitter link to many of the reporters' live tweets in one place.

What are the possible outcomes of al-Nashiri's trial? If there are only 3, guilty and a death sentence, guilty and a sentence less than death, acquittal followed by indefinite detention, probably for life, why bother with a trial? A trial with no possibility of release is nothing but a show trial.

The defense argues that the military jury that will decide al-Nashiri's fate should be told that an acquittal means continued incarceration, if that's the case. Its motion is here. [More...]

Remember the terror wannabes aka bumbling holy warriors from Florida caught in an FBI terror sting and charged with planning to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago? The only al-Qaeda member they met with was an undercover informant posing as one. They couldn't even afford boots. It took prosecutors three tries to get a conviction. (More here, all our coverage is here.)

The 11th Circuit upheld their convictions yesterday.

Prosecutor Jacqueline Arango said during sentencing hearings that the U.S. "shouldn't have to wait for people to be harmed to punish these people for their desire to inflict harm."

Punish people for their desires? Wow. I guess punishment for thoughts is coming next. The opinion is here.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, whose trial on charges that he attempted to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009 with a bomb in his underwear began yesterday, pleaded guilty today to all 8 counts against him. Several charges against him carry 30 years to life. Some require a mandatory 30 year sentence and some of them require a consecutive sentence. Sentencing is set for January 12, 2012.

Abdumutallab made a statement in court. [More....]

The Government delivered its opening statement in the terror trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called "underwear bomber" charged with trying to blow up a NW Airlines plane en route to Detroit.

Reporters are tweeting live from the court. Check out the Guardian's Paul Harris @paulxharris, Robert Snell of the Detroit News @Detroitfedcourt and Steve Futterman of CBS @sfutterman.

AUSA Jonathan Tukel is presenting the opening. Standby counsel Anthony Chambers was going to give the opening for Mr. Abdulmutallab, but has decided to wait until after the Government rests its case.[More..]

The jury has been selected in the trial of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. There was an interesting twist, as after the jury was picked, the Judge dismissed juror #321, a woman from Nigeria. The judge didn't explain why she dismissed the juror, who is president of a Nigerian cultural association in Metro Detroit.

During jury selection Wednesday, the woman said she has lived in the United States since 1994 and has relatives in Nigeria. She did not know Abdulmutallab's family. The Nigerian woman also said if she rendered a guilty verdict, it would not create a problem back home but she did not want her identity revealed.

She was replaced Juror 277, a female retired Secretary of State supervisor. [More...]

The trial of Umar Farouk Umadullatab, charged with a failed attempt to bring down an airline en route to Detroit on Christmas Day, begins tomorrow.

The Superseding Indictment is here. All of our coverage is assembled here.

Abdulmutallab is representing himself, with the assistance of standby counsel Anthony Chambers. I wonder how he'll do at cross-examining witnesses. "F. Lee Underpants" for the defense?

Will a conviction on all counts and a life sentence cause Republicans to admit that terror suspects can be successfully prosecuted in federal court? Don't hold your breath. [More...]