Nigerian suicide bomber, Abdulmutallab sues US Justice Department

Nigerian suicide bomber, Farouk Abdulmutallab, serving multiple life sentences has sued the U.S. Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Prisons and Attorney General Jeff Sessions for denying him free speech and religious rights.

Abdulmutallab, referred to as the “underwear bomber” by the U.S. media, tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his underpants, on a flight from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Detroit, United States, on Christmas Day in 2009.

The then 22 year old was sentenced to life imprisonment and jailed at the United States Penitentiary-Administrative Maximum Facility in Florence, Colorado.

In a suit filed at the 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.

The Lawsuit alleged that once Abdulmutallab got to prison, he was immediately placed in long-term solitary confinement and placed under special administrative measures (SAMs) that prohibited his communication with most of his family members up until last year when he was allowed to talk to his sister.

According to New York Times, Abdulmutallab also asserted the Justice Department went too far in restricting his communication, including not allowing him to talk to his nieces and nephews since his solitary confinement was based on a special administrative measures imposed on national security grounds.

The lawsuit further accused staff at the facility of repeatedly force feeding him during a hunger strike using “excessively and unnecessarily painful” methods.

His attorney, Gail Johnson in a statement alleged that white supremacist inmates were also permitted to harass him during prayer times.

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