Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, there are forty three offense levels, the most serious being level 43. By giving Abdulmutallab the maximum punishment imposed by the law, the Judge had placed him on category forty three and the Judge explained why she had to do this in spite of the fact that Abdumutallab did not have prior criminal history.
Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, there are forty three offense levels, the most serious being level 43. By giving Abdulmutallab the maximum punishment imposed by the law, the Judge had placed him on category forty three and the Judge explained why she had to do this in spite of the fact that Abdumutallab did not have prior criminal history.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
For instance, the Judge said that the act which was undertaken by Abdulmutallab was done to achieve religious and political objectives but he was only unable to achieve the objectives due to the defective nature of the bomb; he also believes that participation in jihad against the United States is encouraged in the Quran and called his weapon of mass destruction a “blessed weapon”. Another factor is the fact that Abdulmutallab did not show any sense of remorse; instead, he sees killing as a sacred obligation in which he feels every Muslim must participate in. According to the Judge, Abdulmuitallab poses a significant threat to the United States everywhere as he still has the enormous motivation to carry out another attack but that he does not currently have the capacity. To that extent, the Judge felt that life imprisonment would be a just punishment for what he has done in addition to serving as a deterrent.
He was given multiple life sentences without parole due to the serious nature of the offenses including the emotional stress and trauma the victims and their loved ones had suffered as a result of his action. Unfortunately, he kept a straight face throughout the trial and did nothing to show that he was sorry for his actions. Even when he addressed the court before the sentencing, he said nothing other than to reiterate his commitments to the mujahedeen, Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki that reportedly trained him and commissioned him to bomb the US Airliner. He said that the Mujadeen are proud to kill in the name of Allah maintaining further that Mujahedeen will continue to kill until the Jews are driven out of Palestine.
In addition, if you look at his demeanors during the sentencing, you will see a young man who has already given up and who was determined to perform what he considered to be a sacred obligation to kill, maim and destroy. He cannot even face the world again, so, what difference would a reduced sentence make to him anyway? From this, I think a sentence below the maximum may have given the wrong impression that terrorism may be excused in some way, particularly, if it the terrorist act does not involve human life, as for example, if their weapon of mass destruction fails due to technical malfunction as we have in Abdulmutallab’s case.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });