Umar Farouk Abdulmutalla, failed underwear bomber, wants a new legal adviser

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a.k.a. the "Underwear Bomber," who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, reportedly wants a new legal adviser, preferably a Muslim male.

(GlobalPost reports: Underwear bomber pleads guilty)

Abdulmutallab is facing life in prison after pleaded guilty to trying to bring down a flight from Amsterdam with 290 on board as it approached Metro Airport on Christmas Day 2009 by exploding a device hidden in his underwear.

CNN cited U.S. officials as saying the terror group Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula was behind the alleged bombing attempt.

Abdulmutallab had been trained by Al Qaeda in Yemen, UPI reported.

Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, had been acting as his own representative advised by attorney Anthony Chambers, on Monday submitted a hand-written letter to U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds and cited widely by US news media.

In the letter, Abdulmutallab complained that Chambers had lied and misled him, The Detroit News reported. 

However, Chambers told The Detroit News that Abdulmutallab was a "misguided young man with a distorted sense of reality" and denied misleading him.

The paper writes that:

Abdulmutallab even suggested someone he met through the Federal Defender Office — Dearborn-based Elsayed Mostafa. "I find there is more understanding when the person is of the same religion," Abdulmutallab wrote.

Mostafa said Monday he was unaware of the letter or the personal request. 

A hearing is scheduled Jan. 6, before the Jan. 19 sentencing hearng.