US terror trial draws to a close

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US citizen Jose Padilla was an al-Qaeda trained terrorist who planned attacks abroad, the prosecution has said during closing arguments at his Miami trial.

Mr Padilla and two co-defendants are accused of supporting extremists and conspiring to kill people overseas.

The men deny the charges and their lawyers, who are due to continue their closing statements on Tuesday, say the case against them is "speculation".

Mr Padilla was held in a military jail without charge for over three years.

The jury is expected to start its deliberations this week in the case against Jose Padilla and his co-defendants, Lebanese-born Palestinian Adham Amin Hassoun and Jordanian-born Kifah Wael Jayyousi.

Telephone conversations

It is alleged that they conspired to kill people in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia and other countries from 1993 to 2001.

If convicted, the defendants could face life in prison

Wrapping up the prosecution's case on Monday, US Attorney Brian Frazier called Jose Padilla a "star recruit" of a US-based terrorism cell that included all three defendants.

Mr Padilla went to an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan "to learn how to murder, kidnap and maim," Mr Frazier said.

The chief evidence against Mr Padilla was what the prosecution called an al-Qaeda application form bearing his fingerprints and date of birth that was found in Afghanistan.

The defence has suggested that Mr Padilla handled the document once he was in custody.

FBI recordings of telephone conversations in Arabic between the defendants were also produced, containing, according to the prosecution, coded references to terrorist activity.

Mr Padilla was heard on only seven of the tapes and he did not use any coded language, the FBI's lead investigator testified.

He travelled overseas to learn Arabic and go on the Hajj pilgrimage, his defence team said.

Defence lawyers also argued that the three men had links with countries such as Afghanistan and Bosnia because they were involved in humanitarian aid for Muslims.

Legal battle

Mr Padilla, a former Chicago gang member of Puerto Rican descent, is a convert to Islam.

He was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in May 2002 after returning from Pakistan.

He was accused of planning to detonate a radioactive dirty bomb and held in US military custody for more than three years.

Following a long battle between the Bush administration and civil liberties groups, Mr Padilla was transferred to the civilian courts in 2006.

The indictment against him made no mention of the alleged bomb plot.

Mr Padilla has said he was tortured while in military detention, an accusation US officials deny.