Terror plotter faces longer prison term

MIAMI: Convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla is going before a federal judge to face a longer prison term after a federal appeals court ruled his original sentence was too lenient.
US District Judge Marcia Cooke was to impose the new sentence at a hearing Tuesday. She originally gave Padilla more than 17 years behind bars for his 2007 convictions on charges of supporting Al-Qaeda and terrorism conspiracy.
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year sentence. Padilla’s lawyer says he still deserves less.
Padilla was arrested by the FBI in 2002 on what authorities said was an Al-Qaeda mission to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” inside the US Those accusations were later discarded. Before trial, Padilla was held without charge under harsh, isolated conditions as an enemy combatant for over three years.