US terror suspect Jose Padilla, detained for over three years without charges as an 'enemy combatant,' has appeared before a US court.
The arraignment on terrorism charges which are being brought against him have been postponed to give his attorneys more time to prepare his defence.
Padilla, 35, was ordered to appear in federal court on 12 January, when he will be formally charged with terrorism offences and will make a plea of innocence or guilt.
He has been the subject of a fierce legal tug-of-war between the Bush administration and civil liberties groups.
Mr Padilla was flown to last night's preliminary hearing at a heavily guarded federal courtroom in Miami from a naval brig in South Carolina.
His appearance only lasted about five minutes and the second hearing took place at around 9pm Irish time.
Mr Padilla, who uses the name Abdullah al-Mujahir, was born in Brooklyn, New York. A former member of a Chicago street gang, he is a convert to Islam.
Arrested in Chicago's O'Hare Airport in May 2002 after returning from Pakistan, he was alleged by federal officials to be a member of al-Qaeda and to have plotted to detonate a radioactive 'dirty bomb' on US soil.
They maintained that as an 'enemy combatant' in a time of war, Mr Padilla did not have to be produced in court and could be detained indefinitely.
Last September, a US appeals court ruled that the administration had the power to hold him under those conditions.
But after his lawyers moved to challenge his military detention in the Supreme Court, US authorities unveiled a civilian indictment against him, which made no mention of the alleged bomb plot.
He is now charged with conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim. His case was added to an existing civilian criminal indictment against an alleged US and Canada-based terror cell charged with supporting foreign jihadists.
The Bush administration is keen to avert a Supreme Court battle based on the Padilla case over the president's power to hold US citizens as 'enemy combatants'.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide within two weeks whether to hear that case, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said there was no longer any reason for a hearing, because Padilla was now in civilian custody.
