The appalling part of the Jose Padilla case is that, whatever -- if anything -- this American citizen is ultimately convicted of having done, he has so far been imprisoned with no trial for three-and-a-half years.
Mr. Padilla, a 35-year old civilian, was first detained by federal authorities in Chicago in 2002. His arrest came in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was said to have been planning to set off a "dirty bomb" and was labelled an "enemy combatant" in spite of his American citizenship. But no indictment was returned and he was imprisoned under military custody with no lawyer. The U.S. Navy tossed Mr. Padilla in jail and threw away the key for the next 30 months.
Various legal appeals were made on his behalf to attempt to insert him and any charges that were to be made against him in court into the American civilian judicial system. Days before the U.S. Supreme Court was to become involved, the Bush administration pulled him out of U.S. military imprisonment and turned him over to the civilian justice system for disposition.
From the point of view of Mr. Padilla himself and his right to be dealt with under due process of U.S. law, which includes habeas corpus -- charge or release -- not much has changed. He is still locked up; he has still not been tried, although he has now been charged with conspiracy.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05332/613449.stm
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