Underwear bomber sues, says rights being violated in prison

FLORENCE, Colo. – A Nigerian man serving life in prison after trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas in 2009 says his civil and religious rights are being violated.

A lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Colorado says Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO’-mahr fah-ROOK’ ahb-DOOL’-moo-TAH’-lahb) is in indefinite, long-term solitary confinement at the federal Supermax penitentiary in Florence, Colorado.

The lawsuit, which seeks federal court intervention says Abdulmutallab, who is Muslim, hasn’t had regular access to an imam or been provided with a halal diet. It also says he’s been force-fed during hunger strikes.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Colorado declined to comment on the lawsuit Monday.

More than 290 people were on board the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. The bomb malfunctioned during detonation.

Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty in 2011.