US trial begins for alleged al-Qaida operative

US prosecutors and lawyers for alleged al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla and two co-defendants were poised to start opening statements today in a trial expected to last well into August.

Padilla, a 36-year-old former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert, has been in federal custody since his May 2002 arrest at O’Hare International Airport. He was initially accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” inside the United States and held for three-and-a-half years as an enemy combatant at a Navy brig, but those allegations are not part of the Miami indictment.