Jury chosen in former "enemy combatant" trial

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) - Defense lawyers accused the U.S. government of trying to oust anyone with Muslim ties from the jury seated on Tuesday to try former "dirty bomber" suspect Jose Padilla and two other men on charges of supporting terrorism.

Prosecutors in turn accused the defense of trying to strike all the white and Hispanic men from the Miami jury chosen to try the case.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke questioned both sides about their reasons for excusing jury candidates and found that none had been excused for racial, ethnic or religious reasons.

The panel of seven men and five women was scheduled to hear opening statements on Monday in the trial, which is expected to last through August.

Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen and alleged al Qaeda recruit, was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in 2002 and held in a military brig without charge for three and a half years.

President George W. Bush declared him an "enemy combatant" in the war against terrorism and his administration said Padilla was plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States.

Padilla was transferred to civilian custody as his lawyers prepared a Supreme Court challenge to the president's authority to imprison him without charges.

He and two other men, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, face life in prison if convicted on charges of conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas and providing material support for terrorists.

They are accused of providing money and recruits for Islamist groups waging violent jihad in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bosnia, Chechnya, Lebanon, Libya and Somalia. None of the three are accused of committing any violent acts.

The charges do not mention the "dirty bomb" allegations, which were based in part on statements from two al Qaeda suspects who claimed they were tortured during interrogations before being sent to the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Defense lawyers accused prosecutors of using their allotment of jury challenges to dismiss a Muslim woman, a woman whose father belonged to the Nation of Islam and others with ties to the faith.

"They have shown a pattern of bias," said Marshall Dore Lewis, one of Jayyousi's lawyers.

All three defendants are Muslims.

Prosecutors accused the defense team of trying to eliminate all the male jurors who were not black. They did not say why the defense might want to do that, but black men are often perceived as being more skeptical of the government than other groups, and thus less likely to convict.

The jury is made up of five blacks, four whites and three Hispanics. An Egyptian-born woman who was raised Muslim is one of the six alternates.