A former FBI fingerprint specialist testified Thursday that terrorism suspect Jose Padilla’s fingerprints match at least seven of 45 latent prints found on an alleged application for Al Qaeda training.
But Padilla’s lawyers cast doubt on the validity of the prints and the so-called Mujahedeen Data Form, a cornerstone of the government’s case. Attorney Orlando do Campo demanded that the government prove the document had been protected from tampering.
The application is the only known evidence suggesting that Padilla, 36, ever went to Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden’s network offered terrorism and warfare training before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Padilla and two co-defendants are on trial on charges of conspiracy to kill, kidnap or maim persons abroad and with material support to terrorists.
Their defense is that they were engaged in humanitarian actions in support of Muslims under siege in places such as Bosnia, Chechnya and Kosovo. No organization name appears on the application, nor is Padilla’s name on it.
