A travesty of justice: Jose Padilla found guilty

The jury of seven men and five women read out the verdict on Thursday, after a day and a half of deliberation following the three-month trial.

Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, co-defendants alongside Padilla, were also found guilty. All three face possible life sentences. They were accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of so-called "Islamic extremists".

The defense said the three were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones, providing relief and humanitarian aid. The US government portrayed the arrest of Padilla, a US citizen, as an important victory in its "war on terrorism" and announced they suspected he was part of an al-Qaeda plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US. He was termed an enemy combatant and was interrogated about the plot in military custody, with no lawyer present, and was not read his constitutional rights against self-incrimination. Subsequently, the charges brought against him in the civilian court in Miami did not include the "dirty bomb" allegation

Mr Padilla achieved notoriety when the former US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced on television from Moscow that he was part of an "unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb" with the intention of causing "mass death and injury."

Despite the hysteria whipped up by Mr Ashcroft, no evidence was ever presented linking Mr Padilla to such a plot. Yesterday's verdict was a rare legal victory for the Bush Administration however. It has seen charges thrown out against virtually all those swept up after the al-Qai'da attacks on America. A federal jury took little more than a day to reach its verdict and Mr Padilla, 36, can now expect to spend the rest of his life in jail.

His lawyers say their client was only a passionate vocal Muslim, concerned about attacks on fellow Muslims in places such as Kosovo and Chechnya. They tried and failed to have charges dismissed on the grounds that he was tortured while languishing in a naval brig in South Carolina for three years. He was only transferred to a civilian jail last year when the Supreme Court threatened to take up his case.

The government's main evidence was an application form it said Mr Padilla filled in under an alias to attend an al-Qai'da training camp in Afghanistan in 2000. The government said Mr Padilla's fingerprint was on the form. There were also FBI surveillance tapes of thousands phone calls he allegedly made between 1993 and 2000.

Anthony Natale, one of Mr Padilla's lawyers said he was never connected to al-Qai'da and had no intention to support terrorism.