Opening statements delivered in Jose Padilla trial

Padilla, a US citizen, was imprisoned and tortured for three-and-a-half years on a US military brig without charges and in violation of fundamental democratic and constitutional principles. He now faces criminal charges of conspiracy and terrorism in a Florida court.

In his opening statement cited in the Associated Press, US Attorney Brian Frazier employed the most loaded language, insisting that Padilla had been an “Al Qaeda terrorist trainee” and member of a “terrorism support cell, based right here in South Florida.”

“Padilla was serious, he was focused, he was secretive,” Frazier continued. “Padilla had cut himself off from most things in his life that did not concern his radical view of the Islamic religion.” Padilla and his co-defendants, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, “took concrete steps to support and promote this violence,” Frazier said.

More
http://wsws.org/articles/2007/may2007/padi-m15.shtml