Calls Tie Padilla to Terror, Prosecutors Say

Jun 09, 07:13 AM

Current Headlines: By Vanessa Blum, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Jun. 9--Jose Padilla's name and face became infamous the day government officials accused him of plotting to blow up a radioactive "dirty" bomb on U.S. soil.

On Friday, the terror suspect's voice was heard in Miami federal court, as prosecutors in his trial played wiretapped phone calls they say link the former Broward County resident to a worldwide terror conspiracy.

Speaking in July 1997 with the man prosecutors call his recruiter, Padilla said, "It's going to happen soon."

Those words, according to FBI Special Agent John Kavanaugh, referred to plans for Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert, to participate in a jihad. Commonly defined as holy war, jihad can refer to a physical or spiritual struggle.

Padilla, 36, was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare International Airport and held without charges at a South Carolina Navy brig for 31/2 years. The dirty bomb allegations made in an emergency broadcast by then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft are not mentioned in the indictment.

The current case charges Padilla, his alleged recruiter Adham Amin Hassoun, 45, and associate Kifah Wael Jayyousi, 45, with supporting violent Islamic groups overseas. All three have pleaded not guilty.

The FBI wiretapped Hassoun and Jayyousi's home and work phones for several years beginning about 1994. The 10-year-old exchange involving Padilla is one of some 120 calls being played for jurors.

Prosecutors say the defendants used code words like football, tourism and picnic to refer to jihad. Padilla speaks on seven recordings.

On the 1997 call with Hassoun, Padilla criticized a mutual friend, Mohammed Hesham Youssef, for talking "too much" and said Hassoun shouldn't discuss matters with him on the phone.

Prosecutors contend Hassoun, a Palestinian computer programmer, recruited Padilla and Youssef at the Masjid al Imam mosque in Sunrise and encouraged them to become Islamic fighters. Youssef, who is in Egyptian custody, is charged in the case but not standing trial. On several 1996 calls, Hassoun urged Youssef, then living in Cairo, to join Islamic insurgents along the Ethiopian-Somali border.

"Forget about the worldly bride and the worldly home ... " Hassoun said in September 1996. "Get yourself ready and leave this nonsense."

The next year, Hassoun wired $5,000 to Youssef to fund his travel to Kosovo, according to financial records. In 1998, Hassoun bought a plane ticket for Padilla to travel to Egypt.

Once there, prosecutors contend, Padilla linked up with other members of the terror network and made his way to Afghanistan, where he attended an al-Qaida training camp.

Hassoun's lawyers claim he wanted to defend oppressed Muslims around the world, not aid terrorists. Defense lawyers for Padilla say he traveled to Egypt to study Islam and Arabic.

The trial continues Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke.

Vanessa Blum can be reached at vbblum@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4605.

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