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BOSTON— The jury in the case of three officers of a defunct Muslim charity listened yesterday to wiretaps in U.S. District Court in which two of the defendants spoke to two men who subsequently were convicted with Jose Padilla on terrorism conspiracy charges. However, when jury members heard Emadeddin Z. Muntasser and Samir Al-Monla, successive presidents of Care International from 1993 through 1998, talk to Kifah Jayoussi and Adham Hassoun, they were not told that Mr. Jayoussi and Mr. Hassoun are awaiting sentencing in federal court in Miami after having been convicted with Mr. Padilla.... The jury has been told...

MIAMI -- Attorneys for convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla say he was so badly mistreated by the government during 3 1/2 years in military custody that he deserves far less than the life prison sentence sought by federal prosecutors. A sentencing hearing set to begin this week for Padilla was postponed Tuesday until Jan. 7 because of a death in the judge's family... In court filings, attorneys for Padilla also say U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke should look at whether the U.S. citizen would be more harshly punished than other terrorism suspects, and should take into consideration the conditions...

They're called the Latino American Dawah Organization, or LADO for short.

Abdullah Al-Muhajir, a.k.a. Jose Padilla, was convicted Thursday of supporting terrorist activity and, said Associated Press, “conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas.” At the Leftist website Daily Kos, Padilla was hailed as an “American Martyr to ‘War on Terror,’” and his trial was compared to the witch hysteria: “As was the case during the witch trials of yesteryear, only the socially unpopular, the mentally ill, and the politically dangerous end up at the end of a noose or in yet another bonfire of political vanity.” The barely literate posting went on to complain that the case against Padilla...

After a three-month trial, a federal jury convicted home-grown terrorist Jose Padilla (AKA Abdullah al-Muhajir or Muhajir Abdullah) of terrorism conspiracy charges. Padilla and co-defendants Adham Hassoun, a Palestinian born in Lebanon, and Kifah Jayyousi, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Jordan, were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim overseas, one count of conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists and one count of material support for terrorists.Opponents of the Bush administration’s policy of treating terrorists as enemy combatants rather than common criminals, point to the verdict as "proof" that convictions can be obtained while...

Oh, what a grave injustice! A martyr has been sacrificed on the altar of the fascistic Bush Regime. As all good progressives know, Jose Padilla could not have aided Islamic terrorists because they simply do not exist. The War on Terrorism is just a bumper sticker slogan. No terrorists exist EXCEPT for the U.S. government which, as all good 9/11 Truthers know, was behind the events of that day. Those passenger jets flying into the Twin Towers? Ha! You really believe the propaganda that they caused the destruction? As that world famous metallurgist, Rosie O'Donnell, has told us, fire...

MIAMI - The defense rested its case Tuesday in the trial of Jose Padilla and two other men charged with supporting terrorism, with Padilla's lawyers calling no witnesses or putting on any evidence. After the defense rested, prosecutors called only one additional witness and then ended their case, earlier than had been anticipated. The actions, coming on day 53 of the trial, clear the way for closing arguments, likely next week. Jurors could begin deliberations next week as well. Padilla, 36, is accused along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, both 45, of participating in a support network...

MIAMI - A federal judge refused Tuesday to acquit Jose Padilla and two co-defendants on terrorism support charges, clearing the way for defense lawyers to begin presenting their case this week. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, ruling after a daylong hearing, said the evidence and testimony offered by the prosecuton over the past nine weeks was enough proof to let a jury decide the men's guilt or innocence. "That is something the jurors will have to find," Cooke said. The trial is expected to last well into August. Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi face possible life in...

MIAMI - 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 years. 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...

MIAMI - Jose Padilla gave evasive or vague answers about his activities in the Middle East shortly after arriving at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in May 2002, an FBI agent testified Thursday at his trial on a charge of supporting terrorism. Padilla did not remember the address or telephone number for his wife and children in Egypt, or the last name of his roommate, agent Russell Fincher said. In contrast, Padilla remembered many details of his life growing up in Chicago, including specific streets where his family lived, Fincher said. He also was carrying documents with other personal information such...

I always wondered if Timothy McVaigh really was the one who did the whole thing. While talking to some friends about this one mentioned there has been some work done here and some published articles about a possible Muslim connection.

MIAMI - The federal judge in Jose Padilla's terrorism support trial refused to declare a mistrial Thursday after at least one juror saw one of Padilla's co-defendants in shackles outside the courtroom. Attorneys for Adham Amin Hassoun said his right to a fair trial had been jeopardized, but U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke said after interviewing jurors that none had been "unfairly prejudiced in this matter." On Tuesday, the 16 jurors were being transported in government vans from the courthouse's basement garage to their cars. As one of the vans was leaving, three deputy U.S. marshals escorted Hassoun through the...

Years before three of the Sept. 11 hijackers set up shop in this corner of the country, a group of Muslim extremists in San Diego was raising money and recruiting fighters for a worldwide holy war, according to federal records and testimony that unfolded last week in a Miami courtroom. As early as 1993, the FBI was wiretapping at least two San Diego men who agents suspected were members of a “sleeper cell” plotting terror strikes across the globe. The government also was tracking money transfers and cash deposits to a series of nonprofit organizations run by the suspects, Mohammed...

MIAMI - An FBI agent testified Thursday in the trial of suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla that members of an alleged Islamic extremist support network talked in code, substituting words like "tourism" and "football" for "jihad." The agent, John T. Kavanaugh, said participants suspected they were being overheard by government officials and urged one another not to openly discuss sensitive matters over the phone. "They believed they were not the only people listening to the telephone calls. It was said explicitly," Kavanaugh said. Among the most common code words, he said, was "tourism" in place of "jihad" — an Arabic...

MIAMI - A federal judge refused Friday to toss out FBI wiretap evidence in the Jose Padilla terrorism support case, rejecting an attempt by defense attorneys to prevent jurors from hearing conversations about Osama bin Laden and other well-known Islamic extremist leaders. U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke ruled the two dozen telephone intercepts that drew objections from defense attorneys were relevant to the case. Cooke also rejected defense assertions that invoking bin Laden's name would make Padilla and his two co-defendants appear more guilty in the jury's eyes. "The mere fact that a name is mentioned, in and of itself,...

MIAMI - The FBI intercepted more than 300,000 calls during a nearly decade-long investigation into a purported Islamic extremist support cell that suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla eventually joined, an agent told jurors Tuesday. The tapes form the backbone of the federal case against Padilla and his two suspected co-conspirators, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi. Jurors in the trial of the three men are expected to begin hearing the tapes and reading translations from Arabic to English in the coming days. Prosecutors say they will show that Hassoun, Jayyousi and others plotted — often using code words —...

MIAMI - The trial plays out with no fanfare. This is not the stuff of O.J. Simpson or Anna Nicole Smith. Yet there has never been a U.S. criminal defendant quite like suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla. Padilla is a U.S. citizen on trial for allegedly joining a support cell for Islamic extremists. The government was forced to prosecute him even though it would have preferred to lock him up without trial. Prosecutors also had to drop allegations that Padilla planned to set off a radioactive "dirty" bomb. Legal experts say his case could have long-lasting legal implications for the...

MIAMI - A convicted terrorist testified Friday that he prepared for jihad at an al-Qaida training camp that prosecutors said was attended by Jose Padilla, one of three men being tried on charges of supporting Islamic extremists. Yahya Goba, a 30-year-old Yemeni-American, said in federal court that he filled out a "mujahedeen data form" identical to the one allegedly completed by Padilla for the remote al-Farooq camp outside Kandahar, Afghanistan. While at the camp in summer 2001, Goba said, he learned about war tactics, plastic explosives and weapons such as AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and handguns. After the six-week course, Goba...

MIAMI - A covert CIA officer who was permitted to testify wearing a disguise and using an alias described in court Tuesday how U.S. officials in Afghanistan obtained a truckload of al-Qaida documents, including a form later linked to suspected operative Jose Padilla. The officer, whose true identity is classified, gave his name as Tom Langston. He appeared in court with a beard and glasses, although the nature of the disguise was not obvious or made public. Prosecutors declined to say whether any concealment was even used. The arrangement was approved by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke at the request...

Here is a key piece of evidence in the case against American-born Jose Padilla, whose federal trial begins Monday in Miami — an Al Qaeda job application form. (Click here to read an English translation of the Al Qaeda application, as well as the original Arabic.) The application — obtained by ABC News' Law & Justice Unit — provides a window into a highly sophisticated organization with a corporate structure that resembles that of large American companies. "It's a membership application — just the way you or I would fill out an application for a credit card company,'' said Jack...