WASHINGTON, Dec 22: In a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration, a US appeals court refused on Wednesday to transfer ‘enemy combatant’ Jose Padilla from US military custody to federal authorities in Florida until the Supreme Court considered his case.

The court said bringing criminal charges against Jose Padilla in Florida after he had been held by the US military for more than three years created the appearance the government may be attempting to avoid high court review of the case.

Mr Padilla, an American citizen, was charged last month with being part of a support cell providing money and recruits for militants overseas. The Justice Department had accused Mr Padilla after his arrest in May 2002 of plotting to set off a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’.

The ruling came on a day the administration was struggling to get the anti-terrorism Patriot Act reauthorized, and while it is under fire in the US Congress for President George Bush’s secret order allowing domestic eavesdropping.

The appeals court also rejected the government’s request that it set aside a ruling that allowed Padilla to be held as an enemy combatant without being charged. Wiping out that ruling would have made it virtually impossible for the Supreme Court to review the case.

The Bush administration, in bringing the criminal charges against Mr Padilla, maintained that his challenge to being held by the military was moot and must be rejected by the Supreme Court. The justices could decide as early as next month whether to hear his case.

Though U.S. officials initially said Mr Padilla had plotted with Al Qaeda to set off a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’ in the United States and then later said he had plotted to blow up apartment buildings using natural gas. The criminal charges against him made no mention of either accusation. —Reuters