Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Padilla Hassoun and Jayyousi found guilty in terror trial -dirty bomber wannabe could get life in jail
Padilla Hassoun and Jayyousi found guilty in terror trial -dirty bomber wannabe could get life in jail
August 16, 2007
| Padilla, Co-Defendants Found Guilty in US Terror Trial | |
| By VOA News 16 August 2007 |
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| Jose Padilla, right, looks on in this courtroom drawing as Assistant US Attorney Brian Frazier, left, presents closing arguments during his terrorism trial in Miami, 16 Aug 2007 |
A jury in the southern U.S. city of Miami, Florida, has convicted U.S. citizen Jose Padilla and two co-defendants of all counts in their al-Qaida terrorism support trial.
Prosecutors said the three were part of a terrorist support cell in Florida that provided money and recruits for Islamist groups around the world. They were found guilty Thursday of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, and providing that support.
White House Spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Padilla received a fair trial and a just verdict. Johndroe also commended the jury for upholding what he called "a core American principle of impartial justice for all."
The jury deliberated only about a day and a half after a three-month trial for Padilla and his co-defendants - a Lebanese-born Palestinian and a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan.
Sentencing is set for December 5. The men could get life in prison.
The government earlier accused Padilla of plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the United States, but that allegation was not part of the charges.
Padilla was arrested in May 2002 while returning to the U.S. from Egypt and Pakistan. He was held in a military prison in the southeastern U.S. state of South Carolina for three and a half years before being charged. His lawyers say he was tortured during that time.
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Padilla Guilty of Aiding Al-Qaeda
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22259901-1702,00.html
From correspondents in Miami
August 17, 2007
Article from: Agence France-PresseA US federal jury overnight found citizen Jose Padilla guilty of aiding Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror network and conspiring to commit murder outside the United States.
The jury found Padilla, a 36-year-old former member of a Chicago gang, guilty of supporting Islamic terrorists and of conspiring to kill, kidnap and maim people.
Padilla's two co-conspirators, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, were also found guilty of the three charges they faced.
The seven-man, five woman jury took a day and a half to reach the verdict.
The three month long trial focused largely on wiretaps of telephone conversations between Padilla's co-defendants.
The White House was quick to hail the verdict.
"We commend the jury for its work in this trial and thank it for upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all. Jose Padilla received a fair trial and a just verdict," said spokesman Gordon Johndroe.
Padilla was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Chicago. He later moved to South Florida.
A convert to Islam, Padilla was detained in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare airport after returning from Egypt and was taken to a US navy prison in South Carolina.
Then-US attorney general John Ashcroft justified placing Padilla in military detention as an "enemy combatant" by saying he was suspected of planning to detonate a radioactive bomb in the United States.
But when Padilla was transferred to the civilian justice system after spending three-and-a-half years in military detention held without charge, the indictment made no mention of the so-called dirty bomb plot.
Instead Padilla and co-defendants were charged with aiding a US-based militant cell of Al-Qaeda that supplied recruits and funding to Islamic extremists abroad.
They were accused of conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim people in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia and other countries from 1993 to 2001.
The prosecution portrayed Padilla as an Al-Qaeda-trained terrorist who plotted bloody attacks abroad.
"He provided himself to Al-Qaeda for training to learn how to murder, kidnap and maim," government lawyer Brian Frazier told the court during closing arguments on Tuesday.
The main piece of evidence against him was a "mujahedeen data form" found in Afghanistan in 2001 that was filled out under an alias and bore Padilla's fingerprints.
"You are already inside the Al-Qaeda organisation when you get this form to fill out," said Mr Frazier.
Padilla's lawyers said the charges were exaggerated, and insisted he and the other defendants had links with countries such as Afghanistan and Bosnia because they were involved in humanitarian aid for Muslims there.
One of the defence lawyers, Kenneth Swart, told the court that the charges were politically motivated.
Prosecutors claim that Padilla went to Afghanistan from Egypt in 1998, though the defence insisted Padilla travelled to Egypt to study Islam and Arabic.
A key theme during the trial was the government's claim that Jayyousi used his American Worldwide Relief charity as a front to provide funds and equipment to terrorists. The defence team argued the group sent aid to oppressed Muslims in conflict areas.
Padilla's defence team claimed that while held in military detention from 2002 to 2005 their client was subjected to sleep deprivation, threats of execution, exposure to noxious fumes, and extreme heat and cold, and was forced to wear a hood and stand in one position for extended periods of time.
"Jose was not a member of any support cell because there wasn't one. He did not commit violence. There were no victims, real or imaginary," Padilla's lawyer Anthony Natale told the jurors during the defence phase.
US authorities deny Padilla was mistreated.
Jeanne Baker, who represented Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Florida resident alleged to have recruited Padilla, had argued that the US government "is twisting the facts out of all recognition".
The government "really is trying to put Al-Qaeda on trial", Ms Baker said, adding: "It has nothing to do with the facts."
The defence team, which did not call on a single witness to testify, pointed out that Mr Frazier mentioned Al-Qaeda a total of 91 times in his opening statement.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6950333.stm
| Padilla guilty in US terror trial | |||
His two co-defendants, Lebanese-born Palestinian Adham Amin Hassoun and Jordanian-born Kifah Wael Jayyousi, were convicted on the same counts. All three denied charges of conspiring to murder in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Bosnia and elsewhere from 1993 to 2001. They now face possible life in jail. Padilla was once suspected of, but not charged with, plotting a "dirty bomb". The three men are due to be sentenced on 5 December this year, the judge in Miami said. The jurors took only a day-and-a-half to find them guilty on all three counts against them. They were convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim; conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism; and providing material support for terrorism. 'Coded calls' Padilla's mother, Estela Lebron, said she expected her son's lawyers to appeal against his conviction.
Meanwhile, the White House was quick to welcome the verdict. "We commend the jury for its quick work in this trial and thank it for upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "Jose Padilla received a fair trial and a just verdict." The chief evidence presented against Padilla was what the prosecution called an al-Qaeda application form bearing his fingerprints and date of birth that was found in Afghanistan. The defence had suggested that Padilla handled the document once he was in custody. FBI recordings of telephone conversations in Arabic between the defendants were also produced, containing, according to the prosecution, coded references to terrorist activity. Defence lawyers argued that the three men had links with countries such as Afghanistan and Bosnia because they were involved in humanitarian aid for Muslims and said the charges against them were exaggerated. A lawyer for Hassoun said he was "very disappointed" by the verdict but that his legal team would continue to fight for justice. Legal battle Padilla, a former Chicago gang member of Puerto Rican descent, is a convert to Islam. He was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in May 2002 after returning from Pakistan. He was accused of planning to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb and held in US military custody for more than three years. Following a long battle between the Bush administration and civil liberties groups, Padilla was transferred to the civilian courts in 2006. The indictment against him made no mention of the alleged bomb plot. Padilla has said he was tortured while in military detention, an accusation US officials deny. | |||
Jose Padilla and his two co-defendants could face life in prison
Born to Puerto Rican parents in New York, moved to Chicago when 4
Involved in gang crime as a youth, jailed in 1991
Brought up a Catholic, thought to have converted to Islam in jail
Alleged to have learned bomb-making with al-Qaeda in Pakistan
FACTBOX - Facts about Jose Padilla
REUTERS - A U.S. jury in Miami on Thursday convicted U.S. citizen Jose Padilla on all three charges in a case that has been a centerpiece of Bush administration efforts to battle terrorism. Here are some facts about him:
* Padilla, 36, was held without charge in a military prison for 3 1/2 years by order of President George W. Bush before being added to the terrorism-support case against co-defendants Adham Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi.
* Padilla's lawyers argued that years of extreme isolation and interrogation by the U.S. military had left him too mentally impaired to help his lawyers defend him in court. But a U.S. judge ruled Padilla was mentally competent to stand trial, saying, "This defendant clearly has the capacity to assist his attorneys."
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| Jose Padilla is pictured in this undated Florida driver's license photograph. (REUTERS/Florida DMV/Handout) |
* Bush ordered Padilla held in a military prison and the administration accused him of plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States. Padilla was never charged with that. While a challenge to Bush's authority to hold him without charge was pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, Padilla was indicted in Florida and transferred to civilian custody last year.
* Prosecutors said Hassoun recruited Padilla at a Florida mosque and sent him to an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan to train as a killer. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier called Padilla their "star recruit."
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