An Arabic translator testifying Monday as the first defense witness in the Miami terror trial of Jose Padilla and two other men attacked charges the defendants used a code on the telephone to secretly discuss their support for radical Islamic groups.

Kamal Yunis, who owns a small translation business in Orlando, said words and phrases characterized as code by prosecutors were Arabic expressions with meanings that could be lost in translation.

“Arabic is a more flowery language. They use figures of speech,” Yunis said. “In English we tend to be more direct.”

Padilla, 36; Adham Amin Hassoun, 45; and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, 45, are charged with taking part in a South Florida terror cell that sent money, equipment and human recruits to support Islamic fighters, known as mujahideen, operating in regions like Kosovo and Chechnya.

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