Padilla trial finally begins

last updated 8 January 2015

Miami

As the federal trial of Jose Padilla opened this week, prosecutors accused Padilla of being part of a “terrorism support cell” committed to al Qaida. Padilla, an American convert to Islam, was arrested in 2002 for plotting to set off a dirty bomb. He was held without charges as an “enemy combatant” for more than three years until officials eventually dropped the bomb allegations. Instead, they charged Padilla, along with two foreign–born men, with planning to “murder, kidnap, and maim” people overseas. Defense lawyers say the men are strident but nonviolent Muslims. The government’s case is “fueled by fear, nourished by prejudice, and directed by politics,” said Padilla’s attorney, Anthony Natale.