US court reinstates most serious Padilla charge

MIAMI, Jan 30 (Reuters) A US appeals court reinstated the most serious charge against alleged al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla today, reviving a murder-conspiracy charge that could imprison the former ''enemy combatant'' for life.

A federal judge in Miami had dismissed the charge on grounds that it duplicated two others pending against him, and therefore violated the constitutional ban on trying someone twice for the same offense.

The government appealed and the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta reversed the ruling today. It said that since Padilla theoretically could have committed one of the alleged offenses without committing the other, the charges were not duplicative.

The government accused Padilla, a US citizen held incommunicado in a military brig for 3 1/2 years, with being part of a North American support cell for global Islamic extremism.

The reinstated charge accused Padilla, 36, of conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim people in a foreign country and carries a penalty of life imprisonment. The other two charges against him, conspiracy and aiding terrorists abroad, carry a total possible sentence of 20 years in prison.

Padilla was transferred to civilian custody last year and is scheduled to go to trial in April.

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