dictionary

Attorney: 'Dirty bomb' case 'weak at best'

Jose Padilla

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The attorney for "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla said the government's evidence is "weak at best" and called for her client's release, saying his detention by the U.S. military was unconstitutional.

Attorney Donna Newman made her claim in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus that was unsealed Wednesday during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court.

Newman was appointed to represent Padilla before he was transferred from custody of the Justice Department to the Defense Department.

Judge Michael Mukasey did not rule on the petition and gave the government until June 21 to respond to Newman's petition. The defense would then have until July 2 for its response.

A federal prosecutor indicated at a hearing Tuesday that the government believed the writ should be filed in South Carolina because Padilla is being held in a naval brig in Charleston

Padilla -- who also goes by the name of Abdullah Al Muhajir -- has been in custody since his arrest May 8 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. He arrived there on a flight from Zurich after leaving Pakistan.

The Justice Department alleges that Padilla flew to the United States on a "reconnaissance mission" as part of a plot to build and detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States.

CNN NewsPass Video    •  'Dirty bomb' case raises questions   •  Lawyer: Padilla's rights violated  MORE STORIES   •  Central Asia 'dirty bomb' fears   •  Worst 'dirty bomb' materials hardest to get   •  No sign 'dirty bomb' has ever been used   •  New device could spot 'dirty bombs'   •  Explosion, not radiation, dirty bomb's worst fallout   •  Zubaydah: Al Qaeda had 'dirty bomb' know-how  RESOURCES   •  On the Scene: How to survive a 'dirty bomb'   •  Map: Dirty bomb: The potential impact   •  Timeline: Abdullah Al Muhajir's rap sheet   •  Interactive: The bomb, the suspect   •  What is a dirty bomb?   •  TIME.com: Person of the Week: Jose Padilla

Padilla was turned over to the Defense Department earlier this week after he was classified an "enemy combatant" by the United States.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Wednesday that the United States was working under a 30-day deadline from the May 8 detention of Padilla to determine whether he would be classified an enemy combatant. (More on the enemy combatant designation.)

In her petition, Newman noted that Padilla, a 31-year-old U.S. citizen who has spent recent years in the Middle East, has not been charged with anything.

"There is insufficient evidence for the government to obtain an indictment," she said in the heavily edited petition.

The government faced a deadline earlier this week to press criminal charges. Instead the Justice Department labeled him an "enemy combatant" and transferred him to the Defense Department, which can hold him indefinitely.

"The evidence linking Padilla to the alleged dirty bomb plot is weak at best," Newman said in her petition.

She said Padilla's constitutional rights have been violated.

"Among the rights which the government has violated are: his right to due process, his right to be free from unreasonable seizure, his right to counsel and his right to a grand jury," she wrote.

Furthermore, Newman asked that Padilla be returned to the jurisdiction of the federal court in Manhattan and that he be released. Short of that, she asked for access to her client.

The judge did not rule on a previous motion by Newman challenging Padilla's arrest on a material witness warrant. He said the issue was moot, given Padilla's transfer to the military.

At a news conference in Bern, Switzerland, Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected criticism over Padilla's detention and said the United States faces more threats from al Qaeda terrorists.

Meanwhile, several senior Bush administration officials said Wednesday that the White House made clear to the Justice Department that it believes the announcement of Padilla's arrest could have been handled better.

Some senior administration officials questioned Ashcroft's decision to announce Padilla's detention while he was in Russia, noting that Ashcroft delivered Monday's statement from a dark studio and took no questions.

And some believed the attorney general's language suggested the plot was more advanced than others in the administration have said.

Two senior officials said that if Ashcroft's statement is read in its entirety, he did make it clear the plot was in its initial stages.

"But in hindsight it is clear that was not the best way to do it -- that it would have been better to let the deputies make the announcement and answer some questions to put it all in context," one senior official said.

Asked if the White House believed Ashcroft exaggerated the threat, the official pointed to remarks by Bush calling Padilla "a threat to the nation" and "a would-be killer."

-- CNN Producer Phil Hirschkorn contributed to this report.