Top US court agrees Padilla move

Jose Padilla, a US citizen, was arrested in Chicago in May 2002

The US Supreme Court has ruled that terror suspect Jose Padilla can be transferred from military to civilian custody to face criminal charges.

The move, seen as a victory for the Bush administration, overrules a lower court's ruling.

Mr Padilla, a US citizen, has been held without charge since May 2002.

His case and detention, criticised by civil rights groups, is seen as a test of the limits of the US government's anti-terrorist powers.

In December, the appeals court accused the government of trying to prevent full legal scrutiny of Mr Padilla's case by seeking his transfer to another court.

Charged

But government lawyers told the Supreme Court that the transfer denial was "an unwarranted attack on the exercise of executive discretion".

Correspondents say the decision is a temporary victory for the government, which wanted to stop civil rights campaigners using Mr Padilla's case to test the legal strength of its terror legislation.

The Supreme Court said it would consider the substance of Mr Padilla's appeal against the conditions of his detention at a later date.

Mr Padilla, a former Chicago gang member who converted to Islam, was initially accused of planning to attack the US with a crude radioactive device, or "dirty bomb".

He was finally charged in November this year with planning to undertake a "violent jihad" against the US by financing militants overseas.

No mention was made of the alleged "dirty bomb" plot among the charges eventually brought against him.

His lawyers had called on the Supreme Court to make a thorough inquiry into his detention and into the broader US policy of detaining alleged "enemy combatants" without trial.