MIAMI, Aug. 13, 2007
Padilla Terror Trial Wraps Up
In Closing Arguments, Prosecutors Say Jose Padilla Was "Star Recruit" For Terrorism Support Cell
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(AP / CBS)
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Timeline Enemy Combatant A summary of Jose Padilla's alleged activities and his court proceedings.
The arguments mark the end of a three-month federal trial in which prosecutors have tried to prove that Padilla, 36, and two others provided support to terrorists.
"They decided that this end justified any means, including murder," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier told jurors. "They were disciplined, they were secretive and they advocated violence."
Padilla was held for 3½ years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest in a purported al Qaeda "dirty bomb" plot. His trial with co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi on conspiracy and material support charges does not include those allegations. Padilla is the centerpiece of the case, largely because prosecutors say he links the other two to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
"Padilla was the star recruit of a terrorist support cell," Frazier said.
Prosecutors want jurors to convict Padilla largely on a five-page "mujahedeen data form" he supposedly filled out in 2000 to attend an al Qaeda terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
"You are already inside the al Qaeda organization when you get this form to fill out," Frazier told jurors. "He provided himself to al Qaeda for training to learn how to murder, kidnap and maim."
The closing arguments are the conclusion of an unprecedented legal journey for Padilla, who has been in custody since his May 8, 2002 arrest at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
His lawyers fought for years against President Bush's decision to designate him an enemy combatant, taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. With that case drawing closer, the Bush administration decided in late 2005 to add Padilla to an existing Miami terror support indictment and drop the enemy combatant designation.
The CIA recovered the al Qaeda "mujahedeen data form" that is central in the case in Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion in late 2001. It contains seven of Padilla's fingerprints, one of his alleged Muslim alias names, his true birthday, notes the applicant's ability to speak English, Spanish and Arabic and has other identifying details.
But there is little other hard evidence linking Padilla, a Muslim convert, to al Qaeda or to the alleged North American terror support cell prosecutors say was operated by Hassoun, Jayyousi and others. Thousands of hours of FBI wiretap intercepts from 1993 to 2001 include numerous conversations of Hassoun and Jayyousi, but Padilla's voice is heard on only seven.
Padilla's defense called no witnesses on his behalf and introduced no evidence. His lawyers adopted the risky strategy of suggesting to the jurors that prosecutors failed to prove he conspired with the others or provided material support to terrorists.
Prosecutors contend that Hassoun and Jayyousi, both 45, were U.S.-based operatives for al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups, providing recruits such as Padilla as well as money and supplies for violent organizations around the world. Another alleged recruit, Mohamed Hesham Youssef, was also indicted in Miami but has remained in custody in Egypt.
Evidence in the case includes numerous checks written by Hassoun and Jayyousi to various organizations that prosecutors say were involved in terrorism. Defense lawyers contend the assistance was intended to help persecuted Muslims in conflict zones such as Chechnya, Bosnia, Somalia, Lebanon and elsewhere.
"Our defense is, we were only giving aid for relief," said Hassoun attorney Kenneth Swartz.
FBI agents testified that the telephone conversations were often in code, with "football" or "tourism" meaning "jihad" and words such as "zucchini" and "eggplant" meaning weapons or ammunition. Yet Padilla was never heard using such code, testimony showed.
The three defendants could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of the most serious murder conspiracy charge.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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The secrets of tennis legend 
I see you are still making those lame Hitler analogies. What are you gonna do when a real Hitler comes along, boy ? Don't you remember the story about the boy that cried 'wolf' ?
Whadda putz!
--- Hitler did that, it didn't work too well.---
Posted by infidel_us
We put people like this into our legal system instead of a military court. That's what's taken so long, after all they dropped the enemy combatant charge, right? I'm wondering if his defense lawyers are being paid for by CAIR. Wouldn't be surprised.
Great, another #2 man.
When we catch enought #2 guys we will eventually start on #3
Wow! We caught the "real" OBL !!!!
Gosh, the "global war on terror" has had a major victory - we are again safe on our streets.
"Prosecutors want jurors to convict Padilla largely on a five-page "mujahedeen data form" he supposedly filled out in 2000"
Hogwash! Can anyone in their right mind imagine a "mujahdeen data form"? I guess they all filled one out right?
Phony war, phony president.
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Posted by j-whitman at 11:21 PM : Aug 13, 2007
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Posted by j-whitman at 11:17 PM : Aug 13, 2007
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read the article..writtne by that liberal pro-terrorist Associated Press..please read it
you have the right to defend this piece of sh*t but what you want is not going to happen. I dont hear any high profile liberal even touching this one...anybody with any form of logic would understand that this man is guilty..what they are trying to play with here is 'technicality'..THESE *** KNOWS HOW TO USE YOUR FREEDOM AND RIGHTS AND NOT TO MENTION YOUR JUSTICE SYSTEM
Your post is pure bullsh*it. The government scr*ewed up by arresting him and has been trying to cover it's as*s ever since. He has never admitted anything and the so-called "evidence" is so shaky it should have never been used to bring charges against anyone. He was caught up in post-911 hysteria and the government has no case and they know it.
I still don't understand how a US CITIZEN can be held without proper counsel. Was Michael Moore right in F911 about very-few US Congresspeople reading the "Patriot Act?"
And I still have never understood how that Act was so handy to whip out after the convienient "New Pearl Harbor."
Posted by FeelFree1 at 07:33 PM : Aug 13, 2007
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Because he is an admitted ENEMY COMBATANT who was caught trying to kill YOU.
He is not a gangmember or a person who commited a bank fraud..that is to be confined in a criminal or civil court to begin with..he is a PRISONER OF WAR....
P R I S O N E R O F W A R..
you are getting a bit too overzealous with your defense that you are starting to scare me
- by feelfree1 August 13, 2007 10:33 PM EDT
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See all 17 CommentsWhy is Padilla still being held?
This American was illegally held and tortured for years, without being charged, based on bogus allegations against him.
Now the Bush regime is trying to ram him through a kangaroo court, on charges unrelated to his original detention, with flimsy evidence.
"FBI agents testified that the telephone conversations were often in code, with "football" or "tourism" meaning "jihad" and words such as "zucchini" and "eggplant" meaning weapons or ammunition. Yet Padilla was never heard using such code, testimony showed."
Sounds like these FBI agents are liars, and should be prosecuted for perjury.
Padilla should be released, apologized to, compensated for the abuse that he endured, and protected as a witness against members of the illegitimate Bush terrorist regime.