US jails Christmas terror flight suspect

DETROIT: A Nigerian man charged in the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound Northwest Airline flight on Christmas day was moved from a hospital to a federal prison, his lawyer said Sunday.

Attorney Miriam Siefer told media in Detroit that the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, has apparently not been allowed to speak with anybody, including his family, since his detention on Friday.

Abdulmutallab was arraigned Saturday at the University of Michigan Medical Center, where he was being treated for burns sustained while trying to bring down Northwest Airline's Flight 253 by detonating explosives sewn into his underwear.

Siefer said Abdulmutallab, who sustained burns during his bombing attempt, was transferred from the hospital located in Ann Arbor, near Detroit, to a federal prison in the town of Milan, some 15 miles (24 kilometers) to the south.

The lawyer said a hearing is scheduled for Monday in a US district court in Detroit to address a request by US authorities of a DNA sample from Abdulmutallab. She said that her client is not expected to attend.

US investigators are trying to piece together any terrorism connections of 23-year-old Abdulmutallab, who reportedly confessed that he had been trained by Al-Qaeda in Yemen.