Jose Padilla, an alleged U.S. terror suspect that has been detained for more than three years without charges, was transferred from a military brig to civilian custody on Thursday and made his first court appearance in Miami, Florida.

The court appearance lasted only several minutes, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Garber set Friday for an arraignment when Padilla would be formally charged.

Padilla, a former Chicago gang member, was arrested in May 2002 in Chicago's O'Hare airport upon return from Pakistan, and had been held as an "enemy combatant" without criminal charges.

He was initially accused by the government of being an al-Qaida member and plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the United States.

Government officials had maintained that as an "enemy combatant," Padilla could be detained indefinitely, and an appeals court ruled last September that the administration had the power to hold him under those conditions.

After Padilla's lawyers moved to challenge his military detention at the U.S. Supreme Court, however, a federal grand jury announced in November last year a civilian indictment against him, which did not involve the "dirty bomb" allegations.

Padilla was charged with joining a North American terror support network and conspiring to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas and providing material support to terrorists abroad, and the administration had been seeking to transfer him from military custody to civilian authorities.

But the same appeals court had refused to allow the transfer, suggesting the administration changed tactics and indicted Padilla to avert a Supreme Court ruling on presidential wartime powers.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday overruled the lower court and approved the transfer.

Source: Xinhua