The judge dealing with Jose Padilla’s case rejected the Bush administration's bid for a life sentence and established the sentence for the al-Qaeda collaborator to 17 years and four months.  

Padilla, also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir or Muhajir Abdullah, was convicted on August 16 under accusations of plotting with al-Qaeda to detonate a radioactive bomb in a major city. He was arrested in Chicago on May 8, 2002, and was detained as a material witness until June 9, 2002, when President Bush designated him an illegal enemy combatant and transferred him to a military prison. However, on January 3, 2006, he was transferred to a Miami, Florida, jail to face criminal conspiracy charges.

He will appeal the conviction, and prosecutor John Shipley said the government will appeal the sentence as too lenient.

The other two defendants were sentenced as it follows: 45-year-old Adham Amin Hassoun to 15 years and eight months in prison and 46-year-old Kifah Wael Jayyousi, to 12 years and eight months.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami said that the sentences for the three defendants weren’t prison for life because they didn't engage in conduct intended to murder or maim on U.S. soil and didn't harm any Americans in the U.S. or abroad. Cooke said the sentences he gave were according sentencing guidelines, although he previously said the three will get at least 30 years.

The jury found Padilla and his co-defendants guilty of conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country, conspiring to support terrorist groups and giving support to terrorists, but they didn’t commit violent acts ant weren’t involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"There is no evidence that these defendants personally maimed, kidnapped or killed anyone in the United States or elsewhere," Cooke said.