US terror suspect Padilla jailed over 17 years
Posted: 23 January 2008 0159 hrs

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MIAMI : US terror suspect Jose Padilla was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison on Tuesday after being convicted of supporting the Al-Qaeda terror network.

The former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert, who was originally arrested in 2002 on allegations of planning to detonate a radioactive bomb in the United States, had faced up to life in prison.

Two other men accused of plotting with Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, were also sentenced to lengthy prison terms, 15 years and eight months for Hassoun and 12 years and eight months for Jayyousi.

In August a jury convicted the three of aiding a US-based Al-Qaeda cell that supplied recruits and funding to Islamic extremists abroad, and conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim people in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia and other countries from 1993 to 2001.

The prosecutors claim Padilla travelled abroad to train as a "jihad" fighter, and filled out, under an alias, an application to receive "violent jihad training" while in Afghanistan in July 2000.

Padilla, dubbed the "Puerto Rican Taliban," was arrested in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare airport after returning from Egypt and was taken to a US navy prison in South Carolina.

US authorities justified his detention without charge saying he was an "enemy combatant" who allegedly planned to explode a radioactive bomb in the country.

But when he was transferred to the civilian justice system after three-and-a half years in military detention, the indictment made no mention of the so-called "dirty bomb" plot. - AFP/de