Prosecution Rests In Jose Padilla Trial

MIAMI (AP) _ Federal prosecutors rested their case Friday against Jose Padilla and two co-defendants charged with participating in an al-Qaida support cell. <br/><br/>The jury has listened to nearly nine

Friday, July 13th 2007, 12:20 pm

By: News On 6

MIAMI (AP) _ Federal prosecutors rested their case Friday against Jose Padilla and two co-defendants charged with participating in an al-Qaida support cell.

The jury has listened to nearly nine weeks of testimony from 22 witnesses and tapes of dozens of FBI wiretaps collected during an investigation that lasted nearly a decade.

Defense lawyers for Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi will begin their case next week, with the trial likely to continue into August.

Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen, was originally accused of plotting with al-Qaida to detonate a radioactive ``dirty bomb.'' He was arrested in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant before he was transferred to the Miami terror support case. The Miami case does not mention the ``dirty bomb'' allegations.

The indictment charges that Padilla filled out a ``mujahedeen data form'' to attend an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan after he was recruited by Hassoun at mosque in suburban Sunrise. All three face life in prison if convicted on all charges, including providing material support to terrorists and conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap people overseas.