'Underwear bomber’ sues US Justice Department over maltreatment in prison

A Nigerian man serving multiple life sentences in the United States for trying to bomb a plane has sued the U.S. Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Prisons and Attorney General Jeff Sessions for denying him free speech and religious rights.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, popularly known as the ‘Underwear bomber’ had on Christmas Day 2009 attempted to set-off a bomb hidden in his underwear during an Amsterdam to Detroit flight. Abdulmutallab, who was then 22, was sentenced to life imprisonment and jailed at the United States Penitentiary-Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.

But in a suit filed in a Colorado federal court on Wednesday, the 30-year-old said authorities in the prison were violating his constitutional rights by not allowing him to communicate with the outside world or practice his religion as a Muslim.

UCJ, UNILORIN.