A federal jury in Miami has convicted an American Muslim convert, who has been in U.S. custody for over five years, for providing material support to terrorists and other related charges.

Jose Padilla, 36, and two other co-defendants, Kifah Wael Jayyousi and Adham Amin Hassoun, were found guilty on August 16, 2007, of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim people in a foreign country, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists.

Padilla, arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport while deplaning a flight from Pakistan, was originally accused by the U.S. government of planning to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb" in an American city.  He was held in custody for over three years as an "enemy combatant."

Instead of awaiting final resolution of questions surrounding his "enemy combatant" status, the government instead indicted Padilla in a Miami federal court in an already established case against Jayyousi and Hassoun.

During the trial, prosecutors played intercepted phone calls for the jury and displayed an Al Qaeda terrorist training camp application, or a "mujahedeen data form," containing Padilla's fingerprints, his alleged alias, birthday and other identifying details.

Padilla, born in Brooklyn, New York, reportedly became interested in Islam during or shortly after a Florida prison stay in the early 1990s. By the end of the decade he was in the Middle East meeting with senior Al Qaeda officials. Whether he converted to an extreme version of Islam while a prisoner or whether his prison time merely made him more receptive, it is likely that his imprisonment influenced his eventual conversion.

All three defendants face life in prison.