FACTBOX-Facts about Jose Padilla
Source: Reuters
Aug 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. jury in Miami on Thursday convicted U.S. citizen Jose Padilla on all three charges in a case that has been a centerpiece of Bush administration efforts to battle terrorism. Here are some facts about him: * Padilla, 36, was held without charge in a military prison for 3 1/2 years by order of President George W. Bush before being added to the terrorism-support case against co-defendants Adham Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi. * Padilla's lawyers argued that years of extreme isolation and interrogation by the U.S. military had left him too mentally impaired to help his lawyers defend him in court. But a U.S. judge ruled Padilla was mentally competent to stand trial, saying, "This defendant clearly has the capacity to assist his attorneys." * Padilla has been in federal custody since May 2002, when he was arrested in Chicago on his return from Egypt. * Bush ordered Padilla held in a military prison and the administration accused him of plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States. Padilla was never charged with that. While a challenge to Bush's authority to hold him without charge was pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, Padilla was indicted in Florida and transferred to civilian custody last year. * Prosecutors said Hassoun recruited Padilla at a Florida mosque and sent him to an al Qaeda camp in Afghanistan to train as a killer. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier called Padilla their "star recruit."
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