US extends Padilla terror sentence to 21 years
Jose Padilla, a US citizen convicted of helping a homegrown al- Qaeda cell, saw his prison sentence extended to 21 years Tuesday after his initial 17-year penalty was deemed too lenient.
Padilla was the subject of a fierce tug- of-war between the administration of former president George W Bush and civil liberties groups after he was detained without charge for nearly four years on a military brig following his arrest in 2002.
The former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert was transferred to the civilian court system in 2005.
He was convicted two years later of aiding a homegrown alQaeda cell that supplied recruits and funding to Islamic extremists abroad, and of conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim people in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia and other countries from 1993 to 2001.
He was subsequently sentenced to 17 years and four months behind bars.
In 2011, however, a federal appeals court ruled that Padilla got off too lightly and ordered a new hearing to determine a more appropriate punishment.
In a statement Tuesday, prosecutors said US District Judge Marcia Cooke had resentenced Padilla – who had faced up to life in prison – to 21 years.
Padilla – who had gone to Egypt in the 1990s to study and later traveled to Afghanistan – was arrested in May 2002 at Chicago’s O’Hare airport and 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 detonate a radioactive bomb in the country, a charge that was later dropped.
During the trial, his defense team claimed Padilla was tortured while in military custody and that the alleged ill- treatment left him unable to participate in his own defense.
But US authorities denied Padilla was mistreated.
In June 2012, the US Supreme Court affirmed an earlier appeals court ruling that, among other things, said Padilla’s detention was a matter of national security policy under the purview of the executive and legislative branches. — AFP