Fast Facts: Timeline in Jose Padilla Case
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A summary of Jose Padilla's activities, according to the Department of Justice and court filings:
March 2000: Padilla joins the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where he becomes interested in training in Afghanistan to become an Al Qaeda fighter.
September-October 2000: Padilla attends the Al Qaeda-affiliated al-Farouq training camp in Afghanistan under the name Abdullah al-Espani.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Early 2002: Padilla and an unidentified accomplice approach Al Qaeda's senior Afghan operations chief, Abu Zubaydah, to propose that they travel to the U.S. and detonate a nuclear bomb they learned to make from the Internet. Zubaydah suggests a plot involving a radiological "dirty bomb" instead.
March 2002: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, purported mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and Al Qaeda's operational planner and organizer, suggests Padilla target up to three high-rise buildings that use natural gas. New York City, Florida, and Washington, D.C., are discussed. Padilla is given $15,000 to carry it out.
May 8, 2002: Padilla arrives at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, carrying $10,526, a cell phone, names and phone numbers of his training camp recruiter and sponsor, and e-mail addresses for other Al Qaeda operatives. He is arrested on a material witness warrant.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}June 9, 2002: Padilla is listed as an "enemy combatant" and transferred to the Defense Department.
Dec. 4, 2002: U.S. District Judge Michael Mukasey rules that a federal court has authority to decide whether Padilla was properly detained as an enemy combatant.
Dec. 18, 2003: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals orders Padilla to be released from military custody within 30 days and if the government chooses, tried in civilian courts.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Jan. 22, 2004: The 2nd Circuit Court of appeals agrees to suspend its ruling after the Bush administration appeals the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
March 3, 2004: Lawyers for Padilla meet with him for the first time since his incarceration at a naval brig in June 2002.
Sept. 9, 2005: A panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the government can continue to hold Padilla indefinitely.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oct. 25, 2005: Padilla asks the Supreme Court to limit the government's power to hold him and other U.S. terror suspects indefinitely and without charges. The Bush administration's deadline for filing arguments is Nov. 28.
Nov. 22, 2005: Padilla is indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on charges that he conspired to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas. The charges do not include any allegations of a "dirty bomb" plot or other plans for U.S. attacks.