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MIAMI: US terror suspect Jose Padilla, once accused
of plotting to detonate a radioactive bomb in the United States, is
set for trial in Miami, where a federal court will start selecting a
jury on Monday.
Padilla, 36, who had spent three
and a half years in military detention without charges, is accused
of plotting to murder, kidnap and maim people in Afghanistan and
elsewhere outside the United States.
Padilla and codefendants Adham
Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, are also charged with aiding a
US-based al-Qaeda terror cell that supplied recruits and funding to
Islamic extremists abroad.
But the federal charges make no
mention of the “dirty bomb” allegation then-attorney general
John Ashcroft made on live television after Padilla was arrested in
2002 and sent to a navy brig as an “enemy combatant.”
Ashcroft suggested at the time
the bomb plot could have caused “mass death and injury” in the
United States.
This could make it all the more
challenging for the defense team to ensure the jurors are willing to
presume Padilla is innocent unless proven guilty.
Starting on Monday, the rival
lawyers in the case will screen potential jurors in order to
pick a panel of 12 and six alternates.
Judge Marcia Cooke ruled that the
jurors’ identities would remain secret until the trial is
concluded.
Thirty-eight prospective jurors a
day will be called to present themselves to be questioned by the
court until the lawyers agree on a panel.
Padilla’s lawyers had
unsuccessfully tried to get the case dismissed over allegations
their client was tortured at a military prison from 2002 to 2005.
Cooke ruled on April 10 that
allegations of abuse in military custody provided no legal grounds
to call off the trial as there was no indication he had been
mistreated at the hands of civilian government authorities.
A former Chicago gang member of
Puerto Rican descent who converted to Islam, Padilla was detained in
May 2002 at Chicago’s O’Hare airport after returning from
Pakistan, and was taken to a naval base in South Carolina.
Padilla’s lawyers also alleged
their client was so traumatized by his treatment in military prison,
that he could not assist in his own defense, but Cooke ruled he was
fit to stand trial.
The defense team claimed Padilla
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.
His lawyers also said he was
given “truth serum” in the form of LSD or PCP during his
detention in a military prison.
US authorities denied Padilla was
mistreated.
The subject of a fierce
tug-of-war between the administration of President George W. Bush
and civil liberties groups, Padilla was transferred to the civilian
court system in 2005 after his lawyers prepared to challenge his
military detention before the Supreme Court.
The government has not explained
why the civilian indictment made no mention of the alleged dirty
bomb plot cited as the ground for Padilla’s military detention
as an “enemy combatant.”
Padilla, also known as Abdullah
al-Mujahir, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. If
convicted he could face life in prison.
--AFP
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