Muslim killer of British soldier in London gets life sentence

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 2013 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.
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".