José Padilla (terror suspect)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Identification photo of Padilla

José Padilla , also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir or Muhajir Abdullah (born October 18, 1970 in Brooklyn , New York City ) is an American citizen of Latin American origin.

Life Before Arrest

Padilla's parents are from Puerto Rico . First raised in Brooklyn, he later moved to Chicago , Illinois , where he joined the Maniac Latin Disciples gang and was arrested several times. During this time he carried the code names: José Rivera, José Alicea, José Hernandez and José Ortiz. As a teenager, he was convicted of grievous bodily harm when a gang member he kicked in the head died. After serving his final sentence, he converted to Islam and professed a nonviolent philosophy. He visited the Masjid Al-Iman Mosque in Fort Lauderdale , Florida with Adham Amin Hassoun . At the time, Adham Amin Hassoun was working for the Benevolence International Foundation, a charity that is suspected of supporting terrorist activities. Padilla and Hassoun became friends. US authorities accuse Hassoun of belonging to fundamentalist Islamist circles, including al-Qaeda . Hassoun was arrested in 2002 because his visa had expired.

Captivity and Trials

Padilla during his military detention

Padilla traveled to Egypt , Saudi Arabia , Afghanistan , Pakistan and Iraq . On his return on May 8, 2002, he was at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago due in New York in connection with the September 11, 2001 issued arrest warrant as an indispensable witness arrested.

He sat until June 9, 2002 in New York in detention, as President Bush him two days before a pending habeas corpus for unlawful combatants said. He was transferred to a military prison in South Carolina , where he was not subject to US civil law. Lawsuits against the detention in New York remain unsuccessful due to jurisdiction reasons . The 4th Court of Appeal declared the 2005 incarceration constitutional. Before the case could be submitted to the Supreme Court , however, Padilla was charged by the federal prosecutor's office on three counts for a total of 80 terrorist acts (including planning terrorist attacks) abroad. On January 3, 2006, he was in prison in Miami ( Florida transferred), where he was before the United States District Court had to answer for South Florida. On August 14, 2007, the jury found him guilty on all counts. Padilla was sentenced to 17 years' imprisonment on January 22, 2008 by Judge Marcia Cooke . Both Padilla, as well as the Attorney General submitted appeal against the judgment. While Padilla's appeal was dismissed, the 11th appellate court upheld the federal prosecutor's appeal and referred the case again to the district court, which eventually set the sentence to 21 years. Padilla is currently serving this in ADX Florence Federal Prison in Colorado .

Torture allegations

Padilla claims that he was tortured while in detention, primarily through sensory deprivation , sleep deprivation and deliberate exposure to stressful situations. George Monbiot wrote in the Guardian that the conditions of imprisonment and questioning affected Padilla's state of mind to such an extent that:

"... he seems like he's lost his mind. I don't mean that metaphorically. I mean his mind is no longer there. "

The forensic psychiatrists who examined him say that he:

“Fails to understand the nature and consequences of the trial against him, that he is incapable of assisting the defense and is impaired due to mental illness, i. H. by a post-traumatic stress disorder , made more difficult by the neuro-psychiatric effects of the prolonged isolation. "

Padilla is reported to be facing charges of torture while in custody.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0228071padilla1.html
  2. ↑ http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/04/27/EDG7H6ABSQ1.DTL
  3. ↑ http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/06/15/padilla.associate/
  4. ↑ http://nachrichten.t-online.de/17-jahre-haft-fuer-us-amerikan-terrorhelfer/id_14024618/offset_/index
  5. ↑ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/19/MNGG5MFSMK1.DTL
  6. ↑ a b https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/dec/12/comment.usa
  7. ↑ Security: CIA chief accuses Cheney of "gallows politics". In: Spiegel Online . June 15, 2009, accessed June 10, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Padilla, José
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American terror suspect
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York