José Padilla (criminal)

Common card · No. 256775

José Padilla (born October 18, 1970), also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir ( ahb-DUL-ə ahl moo-HAH-jeer) or Muhajir Abdullah, is a United States citizen who was convicted in a federal court of aiding terrorists. Padilla was arrested in Chicago on May 8, 2002, on suspicion of plotting a radiological bomb ("dirty bomb") attack. He was detained as a material witness until June 9, 2002, when President George W. Bush designated him an enemy combatant and, arguing that he was not entitled to trial in civilian courts, had him transferred to a military prison in South Carolina. Padilla was held for three and a half years as an enemy combatant. Upon pressure and lawsuits from civil liberties groups, he was transferred to a civilian jail in 2006. In August 2007, a federal jury found him guilty of conspiring to commit murder and fund terrorism. Government officials had earlier claimed Padilla was suspected of planning to build and explode a "dirty bomb" in the United States, but he was never charged...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Federal Government of the United States, Public domain