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Jose Padilla sentenced to 17 years

Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting with Al Qaeda to blow up a radioactive “dirty bomb,” was sentenced Tuesday to 17 years and 4 months on terrorism conspiracy charges that don’t mention those initial allegations.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke marks another step in the extraordinary personal and legal odyssey for the 37-year-old Muslim convert, a U.S. citizen and former Chicagoan who was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant after his 2002 arrest amid the “dirty bomb” allegations.

Prosecutors had sought life in prison, but Cooke said she arrived at the 17-year sentence after taking into consideration the “harsh conditions” during Padilla’s lengthy military detention at a Navy brig in South Carolina.

“I do find that the conditions were so harsh for Mr. Padilla … they warrant consideration in the sentencing in this case,” the judge said.

The jury in his trial was told that Padilla was recruited by Islamic extremists in the U.S. and filled out an application to attend an Al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.

Cooke said that as serious as the conspiracy was, there was no evidence linking the men to specific acts of terrorism anywhere.

“There is no evidence that these defendants personally maimed, kidnapped or killed anyone in the United States or elsewhere,” she said.

Padilla was added in 2005 to an existing Miami terrorism support case just as the U.S. Supreme Court was considering his challenge to President Bush’s decision to hold him in custody indefinitely without charge. The “dirty bomb” charges were quietly discarded and were never part of the criminal case.

Cooke sentenced Padilla’s recruiter, 45-year-old Adham Amin Hassoun, to 15 years and eight months in prison and the third defendant, 46-year-old Kifah Wael Jayyousi, to 12 years and 8 months. The three were part of a North American support cell for Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists around the world, prosecutors said.