CURT ANDERSON, AP News
Jose Padilla has spent more than five years in custody, first as a purported “dirty bomb” plotter and then for allegedly being part of a support cell for Islamic extremists, including al-Qaida.
This week, a federal judge will decide whether Padilla, 37, and two co-defendants should spend the rest of their lives behind bars or if they deserve more lenient sentences.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, an appointee of President Bush, has set aside three days beginning Tuesday to hear testimony and legal arguments before imposing sentences on Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun, 45, and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, 46.
…”Don’t believe all the propaganda that is being portrayed out there about Islam, about terrorism and extremism,” Padilla told the interviewer.
Padilla also claims he deserves leniency because government agents “intentionally inflicted psychological pain and suffering” during his long, isolated incarceration as an enemy combatant at a Navy brig in South Carolina. Padilla last week sued a top Justice Department official who wrote legal memos justifying his detention, seeking a ruling that they were illegal.
Bush administration officials have repeatedly denied that Padilla was mistreated or tortured in military custody.