JOSE PADILLA, a former Chicago gang member once accused by the Bush administration of plotting a radioactive bomb attack, was sentenced by a US court yesterday to 17 years and four months in prison for supporting terrorism.

A federal judge ruled today that suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla is competent to stand trial on terrorism-support charges, rejecting arguments that he was severely damaged by three and a half years of interrogation and isolation in a military brig.