By CURT ANDERSON
AP Legal Affairs Writer

MIAMI -- A man convicted along with one-time "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla of supporting al-Qaida wants a federal judge to block the government from sending him to a prison unit where his telephone calls, mail and visitors would be closely monitored.

A lawyer for Kifah Wael Jayyousi, 46, claims that the Communications Management Unit at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment" and that his inclusion in that unit is discriminatory because it is based partly on his Muslim faith and Arab ethnicity.

Jayyousi is "due to be transferred at any time to this unlawful place of confinement, where he will suffer irreparable harm," attorney William Swor said in court documents filed this week.

Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said Thursday that Jayyousi's religion or ethnicity have nothing to do with the designation at the unit that currently houses 46 inmates. Having all the inmates in one unit ensures that no communication is slipped out by a prisoner not subject to the restrictions.

"They are placed in the unit because their communications need to be closely monitored," Billingsley said.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, who presided over the trial last year of Padilla, Jayyousi and Adham Amin Hassoun, issued an order Tuesday temporarily preventing the U.S. Bureau of Prisons from transferring Jayyousi from Miami. Cooke scheduled a hearing May 22 on the matter.

The three men were convicted in August of charges they were part of a North American support cell that provided money, recruits and material to al-Qaida and other Islamic extremist groups. Prosecutors said Jayyousi was the cell's propagandist and financier in its early years. He was sentenced to more than 12 years behind bars.

Jayyousi wanted to do his time at a prison near his home in Detroit. But on April 30, he learned that he was going to the Indiana institution and that he would be placed in the special unit "to protect the safety, security and orderly operation of (prisons) facilities, and protect the public," court documents show.

The unit's restrictions include live monitoring and recording of all phone calls unless they are with an inmate's lawyers. Calls must be made in English unless arrangements are made to have a government translator present, and all visits with family and friends are also monitored. Every piece of mail is reviewed.

In most federal prisons, there is far less monitoring of inmates, other languages can be spoken on phone calls and visits are less restricted.

In his motion, Swor argued that Jayyousi is no threat, pointing out that the naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Jordan is a U.S. Navy veteran who in the past held security clearances for military installations. Jayyousi also was a top schools administrator in Detroit and Washington, D.C., in positions of trust over thousands of children.

"At no time has Dr. Jayyousi been accused of abusing that trust," Swor said in court papers, adding that Jayyousi was free on bail for 13 months before and during his trial.

Cooke said when she sentenced Jayyousi that trial evidence showed he had ceased involvement with Islamic extremist causes in 1998 and that he is "the kind of neighbor that people would want in a community."

Padilla, 37, is serving his time at the nation's highest-security federal prison in Florence, Colo., while the 46-year-old Hassoun has been designated for a prison in Marion, Ill., according to his lawyer.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen and Muslim convert, was held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant after his May 2002 arrest at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on suspicion of plotting to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb." Amid legal challenges to his continued detention without charge, the Justice Department in late 2005 added Padilla to an existing Miami terror support case and the dirty bomb allegations were dropped.

Cooke sentenced Padilla to more than 17 years in prison and Hassoun to more than 15 years. All three defendants are appealing their convictions and sentences, and the Justice Department is also appealing the sentences as too lenient.



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