© 2024 254 North Front Street, Suite 300, Wilmington, NC 28401 | 910.343.1640
News Classical 91.3 Wilmington 92.7 Wilmington 96.7 Southport
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

At 'Underwear Bomber' Trial: An Outburst And A Shirt Change

The trial of the Nigerian man who authorities say tried to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear as a jetliner prepared to land in Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 began with some drama today in Detroit.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab declared as jury selection got underway that "Anwar is alive" — a reference to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed on Friday by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

And Abdulmutallab, 24, said "the mujahadeen will wipe out the U.S. — the cancer U.S.," The Associated Press reports. He's acting as his own attorney.

The Detroit Newssays Abdulmutallab "shouted" and "railed" when making those comments, "adding high drama to the most high-profile terror case in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks."

Also at the start, Abdulmutallab was advised by U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds to change out of the prison T-shirt he was wearing. According to the AP, Abdulmutallab had asked if he could wear a "Yemeni belt with a dagger." That request was denied. He changed into a shirt with a collar.

TheDetroit Free Pressis live-blogging as jury selection continues.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.