British-Nigerian Islamic fanatic loses life sentence appeal

The Nigerian man United Kingdom citizen, Michael Adebolajo, has lost his appeal in High Court against the life sentence he was given for the murder of a British soldier, Lee Rigby.

The 25 year old Michael Adebolajo and another man with Nigerian roots, Michael Adebowale, ran down the 25-year-old Lee Rigby down in a car before hacking him to death with a meat cleaver and knives in brutal and barbaric attack in Woolwich, south London. They dumped the body of the father-of-one in the middle of the road near Woolwich Barracks in south east London on May 22 last year.

Adebolajo and Adebowale after the crime, waited for the police to arrive, ranting to onlookers in an incident that was captured by CCTV.

After their arrest and subsequent arraignment in court, both men claimed that they were “soldiers of Allah” and were motivated by the plight of Muslims abroad to carry out the killing. Both were convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and sentenced in February.

Michael Adebolajo however appealed against his life sentence and even renounced his radical Islamic religion. Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas of the Court of Appeal in London with Lady Justice Hallett and Mr. Justice Openshaw however rejected the appeal in less than a minute.

Lord Thomas said it the sentences were “just punishment for the 'horrific and barbaric murder”.