[JURIST] The defense in the Jose Padilla [JURIST news archive] terror trial rested its case Tuesday without Padilla's lawyers calling any witnesses. Padilla did not testify in the trial, nor did co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi [GlobalSecurity profiles]. Jurors heard testimony from six witnesses called by lawyers representing Padilla's co-defendants, but Padilla's lawyers said last week that they did not plan on calling any witnesses [JURIST report].

Padilla, Hassoun, and Jayyousi are accused [JURIST report] of being a part of an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist support network and conspiring to murder US nationals. Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and subsequently detained as an "enemy combatant" [JURIST news archive] at a Navy military brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Initially accused of planning to set off a "dirty bomb" in the United States, Padilla went from enemy combatant to criminal defendant when he was finally charged with other offenses in November 2005. Padilla was transferred to civilian custody [JURIST report] in January 2006 and has pleaded not guilty [JURIST report] to the charges. Reuters has more.