'Dirty bomb' suspect Padilla and 2 others to be sentenced this week
MIAMI -- Jose Padilla has spent more than five years in custody, first as a purported "dirty bomb" plotter and then for allegedly being part of a support cell for Islamic extremists, including al-Qaida.
This week, a federal judge will decide whether Padilla, 37, and two co-defendants should spend the rest of their lives behind bars or if they deserve more lenient sentences.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, an appointee of President Bush, has set aside three days beginning Tuesday to hear testimony and legal arguments before imposing sentences on Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun, 45, and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, 46.
Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was held for 3ˆ½ years without criminal charge after his May 2002 arrest at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Authorities said at the time he was on an al-Qaida mission to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the U.S.
Those charges were later dropped and Padilla, allegedly recruited by Hassoun for al-Qaida while living in South Florida, was added in late 2005 to a Miami terrorism support case just as challenges to his detention were headed to the U.S Supreme Court.
After a three-month trial, all three men were convicted in August of conspiracy and terrorism material support charges.
A critical piece of evidence was a form Padilla filled out in 2000 for an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan. Padilla was the "star recruit" of the support cell, Hassoun a main recruiter, and Jayyousi a financier and propaganda specialist, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors say all three men deserve life in prison, the maximum sentence for their convictions on a charge of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. Sentencing guidelines recommend 30 years to life for Padilla and life for Hassoun and Jayyousi because of their leadership roles.
Cooke is not bound by the recommendations, a fact that could lead to a lengthy court fight.
"During an eight-year conspiracy, these men aided mujahedeen fighters and organizations aligned with terrorists, claimed membership in terrorist groups, communicated with convicted terrorists, and attended terrorist training camps," prosecutor John Shipley said in court papers.
The three were "fully prepared to kill any 'infidels' in their path," he added.
Defense lawyers say the men were peace-loving Muslims who were only interested in helping other Muslims overseas suffering from oppression and persecution. Padilla, they say, went abroad not to become a terrorist but to study Islam and Arabic in hopes of becoming an imam.
Padilla's lawyers on Monday released a transcript of a 1996 interview he did with a Fort Lauderdale radio station in which he described how he repeatedly got into trouble as a youth but straightened out his life after converting to Islam.
"Don't believe all the propaganda that is being portrayed out there about Islam, about terrorism and extremism," Padilla told the interviewer.
Padilla also claims he deserves leniency because government agents "intentionally inflicted psychological pain and suffering" during his long, isolated incarceration as an enemy combatant at a Navy brig in South Carolina. Padilla last week sued a top Justice Department official who wrote legal memos justifying his detention, seeking a ruling that they were illegal.
Bush administration officials have repeatedly denied that Padilla was mistreated or tortured in military custody.
Padilla's lawyers say he deserves no more than a 10-year sentence. Hassoun is asking Cooke to impose a term of between four and six years, and Jayyousi says he deserves only probation and, at most, no more than 21 months behind bars.