'Murder, Kidnap And Maim'

"Dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without charges for more than three years, faces charges of conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim persons" overseas, under an indictment unsealed Tuesday.

A grand jury in Miami returned the indictment against Padilla and four others. While the charges allege Padilla was part of a terrorism conspiracy, they do not include previous allegations that he planned to carry out attacks in the United States.

"The indictment alleges that Padilla traveled overseas to train as a terrorist with the intention of fighting a violent jihad," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a news conference.

Gonzales said if convicted of the charges against him, Padilla could face life in prison. However, the attorney general would not comment on why none of the allegations involving attacks in America were included in the indictment.

Padilla, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-born Muslim convert, has been held as an "enemy combatant" in Defense Department custody for more than three years. The Bush administration had resisted calls to try him in civilian courts. With the indictment, Padilla will be transferred from military custody to the Justice Department.

But now, Gonzales says charges against Padilla are not related to his previous status as an "enemy combatant."

"The president says we are going to use all available tools to deal with this new kind of enemy, to deal with this terrorist threat," Gonzales said.

According to the indictment, Gonzales said, Padilla allegedly "filled (out) a terrorist training camp application," and belonged to a "violent terrorist support cell ... operating through the U.S. and Canada."

Watch the attorney general talk about allegations against Padilla

Read the indictment (.pdf).

The indictment avoids a Supreme Court showdown. Padilla's lawyers had asked justices to review his case last month, and the Bush administration was facing a deadline next Monday for filing its legal arguments.

"The 'evidence' the government has offered against Padilla over the past three years consists of double and triple hearsay from secret witnesses, along with information allegedly obtained from Padilla himself during his two years of incommunicado interrogation," his lawyers said in their earlier appeal.

"They're avoiding what the Supreme Court would say about American citizens. That's an issue the administration did not want to face," said Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor who specializes in national security. "There's no way that the Supreme Court would have ducked this issue."

The Bush administration has said Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, sought to blow up hotels and apartment buildings in the United States and planned an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device.

CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen says the indictment "probably ends the legal wrangling over Padilla's status as an 'enemy combatant' since now his status changes to that of regular criminal defendant. It's also an acknowledgement by the government that it believes it can produce hard evidence linking Padilla to a crime — although a conviction isn't guaranteed."

Padilla was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2002 after returning from Pakistan. The federal government has said he was trained in weapons and explosives by members of al Qaeda.

Although the Justice Department has said that Padilla was readying attacks in the United States, the charges against him and four others allege they were part of a conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country and provide material support to terrorists abroad.

According to the indictment, Padilla traveled overseas to receive violent jihad training and to fight violent jihad from October 1993 to November 2001. On July 24, 2000, Padilla allegedly filled out a "Mujahideen data Form" in preparation for violent jihad training in Afghanistan and reportedly was seen in that country in October 2000.

The charges against him and four others allege they were part of a North American support cell that sent money, assets and recruits overseas "for the purpose of fighting violent jihad." The indictment mentions Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Egypt and Bosnia, but makes no allegations of specific attacks anywhere.

The others indicted are: Adham Amin Hassoun, a Lebanese-born Palestinian; Mohammed Hesham Youssef, an Egyptian; Kifah Wael Jayyousi, a Jordanian national and U.S. citizen; and Kassem Daher, a Lebanese citizen.

Hassoun also was indicted on eight additional charges, including perjury, obstruction of justice and illegal firearm possession. Hassoun, a Palestinian computer programmer who moved to Florida in 1989, was arrested in June 2002 for allegedly overstaying his student visa. Prosecutors previously described him as a former associate of Padilla.

Gonzales said all of the men are alleged members of a "violent terrorist support cell" operating through the U.S. and Canada.

When asked about timing and his multiple mentions of the Patriot Act at the Tuesday press conference, Gonzales said that the timing of the indictment against Padilla is "appropriate," but not directly related to the Patriot Act.

Padilla was added to the pre-existing indictment in order to put him on schedule to be tried next year.

The indictment was returned under seal on Thursday by a federal grand jury in Miami. Hassoun also was indicted on eight additional charges, including perjury, obstruction of justice and illegal firearm possession.

Hassoun, a computer programmer who moved to Florida in 1989, was arrested in June 2002 for allegedly overstaying his student visa. Prosecutors previously described him as a former associate of Padilla.

"This surely won't end the political and legal debate over the president's authority to classify citizens as 'enemy combatants' and thus deprive them of constitutional rights," Cohen said. "But it certainly changes Padilla's status and gives him a chance to defend himself in court."

Hassoun and Jayyousi are in federal custody in Miami, while Youssef is serving a prison sentence in Egypt, Justice Department officials said. Daher is believed to be in Lebanon, but officials said they are uncertain whether he is in custody.

Padilla has been held at a Navy brig in South Carolina. Following the indictment, which was handed up last Thursday, President Bush sent a memo to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordering Padilla transferred to the federal detention facility in Miami.