Farouk Mutallab pleads not guilty-Nigeria not on US terror watch-list – Maduekwe

Farouk arrived Friday for his arraignment on charges that he failed to detonate a chemical-laden explosive on the Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight. Experts say that with so much evidence stacked against Farouk, his defence team is left with few options as the case moves forward. According to an Associated Press report, attorneys outside the case […]

Farouk arrived Friday for his arraignment on charges that he failed to detonate a chemical-laden explosive on the Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight. Experts say that with so much evidence stacked against Farouk, his defence team is left with few options as the case moves forward.

According to an Associated Press report, attorneys outside the case say the 23-year-old’s lawyers can challenge incriminating statements to the FBI, seek a mental-health exam for Farouk — and seriously consider a plea deal. “This is not a case of mistaken identity or a whodunit. For the defence, it’s damage control,” said Joseph Niskar, a defence lawyer who was involved in a 2001 terrorism case in Detroit that fell apart for the government.

A federal grand jury has indicted Farouk this week on six charges, including one that could put him away for life: the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction to kill nearly 300 people. That weapon, according to the government, was an explosive hidden under his clothing. The FBI says Farouk tried to detonate it with a syringe of chemicals.

U.S. Marshals Service said Farouk arrived at the courthouse Friday in a dark Chevy SUV that drove into an underground entrance. The vehicle was led and followed by police cars with flashing lights and short siren blasts.

Outside the court, authorities set up metal barricades outside the courthouse and limiting foot traffic in the area. A protester stood holding a sign that read: “No U.S. Rights For Terrorists.” A few others gathered including a handful of local Muslim community members who held an American flag and a sign saying: “Not in the name of Islam.”

Maryam Uwais, Nigerian lawyer, and Mahmud Kazaure, a lawyer from Maryland, were quoted as having told The Associated Press at the courthouse that they were sent by Farouk’s family to observe Friday’s arraignment. Neither have a role in the case, but both spoke briefly with the suspect’s legal team. They declined to further comment.

Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, has said Farouk would be offered a plea deal in exchange for valuable information about his contacts in Yemen and elsewhere.

Farouk’s lawyer, Detroit’s top federal defender Miriam Siefer, declined to comment Friday, and Detroit’s new U.S. attorney, Barbara McQuade, said no offer has been made yet.

“We’ll take the case one step at a time,” said McQuade, who handled national security cases before her promotion. “If he wants to plead guilty he has the right to do that. … We need to prepare as if this case is going to trial.” Some attorneys, however, doubt that Farouk would really want to help the United States by cooperating with investigators.

Since the failed attack, security at airports in the U.S. and around the world has tightened as the Obama administration acknowledged government missteps in the near-catastrophe.

Obama said Thursday that the government had the information that might have prevented the botched attack but failed to piece it together. He announced about a dozen changes designed to fix that, including new terror watch list guidelines and wider and quicker distribution of intelligence reports.

Several experts pointed to the difficulties facing Siefer and her team as they defend Abdulmutallab. They didn’t get the case until he was charged the day after the failed attack. By then he had talked to investigators about training with al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

“They may be able to challenge his statements, whether he was given Miranda rights,” said Keith Corbett, a former organized-crime prosecutor in Detroit. But beyond any incriminating words, “you still have a large number of witnesses who saw things in a confined space. That’s going to pose a serious problem to the defence.”

But the more time that elapses, the less valuable his information could be for any plea deal, Corbett said. “If he cuts a deal in six months, he’s had no contact (with foreign allies) for six months. The answer lies in what information he has, like names, training facilities,” Corbett said. “For any significant reduction in his sentence, he would have to be in a position of giving the government what it really wants.”

Meanwhile in Nigeria, the Minister of Foreign Affair Ojo Maduekwe has said that Nigeria is not on the United States’ terror watch-list and that the country has not accused Nigeria of sponsoring terrorism. He made the statement at the visit of Mr. Jiechi Yang at bilateral talks on relationship between Nigeria and China, adding that Nigeria is on the list of US-friendly countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and fourteen others.

He stated that: “Nigeria is not accused of sponsoring terrorism. We cannot be because it is not in our character and not in our culture. U.S said there is need to enhance security control for reasons which are clearly stated by them, they will naturally in their own judgment look more closely about traffic, in respect of fourteen listed countries.”

 He stated that but that it is not acceptable to Nigeria and we are discussing to ensure that attention given to Nigeria should not different from attention given to any other country and I think there is need to support the effort of both countries to allow quiet subtle diplomacy to prevail on the matter because that is what is going to solve the problem at the end of the day”.  

“The story needs to be corrected by our media, because it is not only for our image as Nigeria but for strong relations Nigeria have with U.S, the relationship is cordial and historical excellent and we do not belief that the current hiccup is going to fundamentally utter that”.