2007年VOA标准英语-Testimony Begins in US Terrorism Trial

A U.S. court has begun hearing testimony¹ from witnesses in the terrorism trial of Jose Padilla, an American convert to Islam. From Miami, VOA's Brian Wagner reports the alleged² al-Qaida recruit is accused of planning to help commit terrorist attacks around the world.

Jose Padilla (file photo)

They say one key piece of evidence is a form signed by Padilla to join a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. They called their first witnesses early Tuesday, an FBI agent and a CIA official who helped obtain the document from a source in Afghanistan.

Padilla is standing⁴ trial with two other men who are accused of operating a terrorist cell in south Florida which recruited people to fight alongside Islamic extremists in other countries. Defense⁵ attorneys say the men had no link to al-Qaida and only sought to aid Muslims who were being attacked in places like Chechnya and Kosovo in the 1990s.

Wake Forest University law professor Bobby Chesney says the jury trial, which is expected to last more than three months, may be a key test of recent efforts to strengthen U.S. anti-terrorism legislation. "It's an important case both as a question of the scope of criminal law in the terrorism context, and of course given the great amount of attention drawn⁶ by Jose Padilla. It's important politically as well," he said.

The Bush administration has faced repeated criticism over its treatment of Padilla since his arrest at Chicago's International Airport in 2002 as he arrived on a flight from Pakistan. Officials initially⁷ said he planned to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb." He was classified as an enemy combatant and placed in military custody⁸.

More than three years later, he was transferred to civilian⁹ custody to face charges of providing material support for terrorism and conspiring¹⁰ to murder, kidnap and maim¹¹ people outside the country.

Defense lawyers for Padilla have said he was tortured while in military custody and suffered mental damage as a result. They filed a motion to declare Padilla mentally unfit for trial, but the presiding judge in Miami rejected it.

Professor Chesney of Wake Forest University says the courts have resolved many of the legal issues surrounding Padilla's time in military custody. "The net result of it all is to suggest that unless something changes, issues about what he experienced as a military detainee are not going to play a role in this trial. Then again, you never know what might happen in trial," he said.

Padilla's co-defendants are Jordanian-born Kifah Jayyousi and Lebanese-born Palestinian Adham Hassoun. They face life in prison, if convicted.