TheCable

Farouk Abdulmutallab, popularly known as “underwear bomber”, serving a life sentence in the US has sued the government for “infringing on his rights and maltreating him”.

On Christmas day in 2009, Abdulmutallab attempted to explode a bomb hidden in his underpants, on a flight from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Detroit.

Consequently, the son of Umaru Abdulmutallab, prominent Nigerian businessman, was handed a life sentence in 2012 and jailed at the US Penitentiary-Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.

But in a suit filed on his behalf by Gail Johnson, his attorney, Abdulmutallab alleged that prison officials were violating his rights by holding him in solitary confinement.

He said his communication with relatives had been restricted and he was force-fed when he went on a hunger strike.

The 30-year-old also claimed that the guards allowed “white supremacists” to distract him during prayer times, desecrated his prayer cloth and books.

“Prisoners retain fundamental constitutional rights to communicate with others and have family relationships free from undue interference by the government,” Johnson said.

“The restrictions imposed on our client are excessive and unnecessary, and therefore we seek the intervention of the federal court.”

Abdukmutallab prayed that he should be removed from solitary confinement and be allowed regular access to his imam.

He also prayed for a halt on all infringement on his rights and that he should be regularly provided with halal food in accordance with his held religious beliefs.