BRIEF: Padilla Sentenced to 17 Years

UNITED STATES - Jose Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, was sentenced to 17 years in US prison for suspected involved in engineering a plot to use a radioactive “dirty bomb” in a terrorist attack following his return from Pakistan.

Padilla had been previously detained for three-and-a-half years as an “enemy combatant” in a Navy jail in South Carolina.  Padilla has claimed detention authorities tortured him during this time.  Military officials have consistently denied this claim. 

Judge Marcia Cooke, who sentenced Padilla to 208 months in prison, did agree with Padilla’s lawyers that he had experienced “harsh conditions” and “extreme environmental stresses.”  Judge Cooke argued that she took this treatment into consideration when sentencing Padilla.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Padilla Given Long Jail Sentence – 22 January 2008

CNN – Jury Reaches Verdict in Padilla Terror Case – 16 August 2007