A Muslim extremist was jailed for life and his accomplice for 45
years on Wednesday for hacking British soldier Lee Rigby to death on a
London street in a “terrorist” killing that shocked the nation.
Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, were dragged from
the dock in the Old Bailey court in London after they started screaming
“Allahu akbar” (God is greater) at the judge during the sentencing.
The pair of Muslim converts were found guilty in December of
ploughing into Rigby with a car before attacking him with knives in
broad daylight outside his barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, in
May 2013.
Judge Nigel Sweeney ordered Adebolajo to spend the rest of his life
behind bars without the possibility of parole for killing Rigby, who had
previously served in Afghanistan, and said Adebowale had to serve a
minimum of 45 years.
“This was a murder with a terrorist connection,” the judge said, describing the killing as “sickening and pitiless”.
He said a whole-life prison term was a “just penalty” for Adebolajo,
who had proclaimed his admiration for the Al-Qaeda terror network, but
that the younger man’s “lesser role” meant he would get a shorter
sentence.
Adebolajo and Adebowale, both Britons who were raised by Nigerian
Christian families before converting to Islam, said they had attacked
the off-duty soldier to avenge the deaths of Muslims at the hands of
British troops.
Minutes before the sentencing, Adebolajo started shouting “Allahu
akbar” and Adebowale called out “that’s a lie” in response to claims
that they had been radicalised.
They scuffled with guards before being carried down to the holding cells and were not in court to hear their penalties read out.
The sentencing had been delayed for several weeks because the judge
wanted clarification on a European ruling that made it uncertain whether
life sentences could still be imposed.
England’s Court of Appeal upheld the right to do so on February 18.
Far-right protesters jostled with police outside the court before the pair were sentenced, an AFP photographer said.
They carried a portable hangman’s gallows, waved British flags and
chanted slogans calling for the restoration of the death penalty.
Rigby’s family, including his parents and the mother of his child,
arrived at the court wearing T-shirts emblazoned with a photograph of
the 25-year-old fusilier and the words: “Justice For Lee Rigby”.
The pair were shot and wounded by armed police at the murder scene
after Adebolajo charged at them waving the cleaver, while Adebowale
raised a rusty, unloaded gun.
The convicted killers claimed they were “soldiers of Islam” and therefore justified in their actions.
The Rigby murder stunned Britain and sparked a rise in community
tensions, with several mosques attacked by arsonists. British Muslim
leaders deplored the killing.
The brutal daylight attack also raised questions for British
intelligence agencies as Adebolajo was known to the security services,
having been arrested in Kenya in 2010 and deported.
Sweeney had held off passing sentence in December because the
European Court of Human Rights last year condemned the punishment
whole-life terms as a violation of prisoners’ rights, causing the Court
of Appeal to launch their review.
