http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10152846/
MSNBC.com
Suspect in ‘dirty bomb’ case indicted
Criminal charges mean Padilla case will avoid Supreme Court showdown
NBC News and news services
Updated: 11:05 a.m. ET Nov. 22, 2005
WASHINGTON - In a surprise legal development, suspected dirty bomber
Jose Padilla has been indicted on criminal charges in Miami and as a
result will no longer be an “enemy combatant” in Pentagon custody,
according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Padilla was indicted on charges that he conspired to “murder, kidnap
and maim” people overseas.
A federal 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 the government’s earlier
allegations that he planned to carry out attacks in the United States.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was expected to discuss the
indictment at a news conference in Washington later Tuesday.
Names of others
The others indicted are: Adham Amin Hassoun, Mohammed Hesham Youssef,
Kifah Wael Jayyousi, and Kassem Daher.
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.
Padilla, a Brooklyn-born Muslim convert, has been held as an “enemy
combatant” in Defense Department custody for more than three years.
NBC’s Pete Williams reported that Padilla was being transferred from
Pentagon custody and into the criminal courts system on Tuesday,
ending the long legal battle over whether he should be in military
custody.
The Bush administration had resisted calls to charge and try Padilla
in civilian courts.
No Supreme Court showdown
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.
“They’re avoiding what the Supreme Court would say about American
citizens (as enemy combatants). 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.
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-Qaida.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
© 2005 MSNBC.com
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10152846/
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Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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