Jordan Times
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Prosecutor indicts 20 in
Amman, Aqaba attacks
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN — The State Security Court (SSC) prosecutor
on Tuesday indicted 20 suspects in two cases, including Jordanian fugitive Abu
Mussab Zarqawi, in connection with terrorist attacks in Amman and Aqaba last
year.
The first case involved the Iraqi would-be suicide bomber Sajida Rishawi, who
participated in the November 9 bombings of three hotels in the capital, which
left 60 people dead and around 90 injured.
Rishawi, 35, will be tried soon, while seven other defendants, including Zarqawi,
will be tried in absentia, a judicial source told The Jordan Times.
The charge sheet identified the remaining defendants as Othman Ismail Dalimi,
Hiam Hassan and her brother Walid, Nihad Rishawi and Karim Jassim Fahdawi, all
Iraqi.
The eighth defendant was identified as Mazen Mohammad Shehadeh, a Jordanian.
The group was charged with possessing explosives with illicit intent and
plotting subversive acts that led to death and destruction.
The prosecutor said the group belonged to Al Qaeda and sought, under the
instructions of Zarqawi, to launch a terrorist attack against Jordan and kill
innocent people.
Zarqawi provided Dalimi, Shehadeh, Hiam and Walid with explosive belts and asked
them to travel to Jordan, the prosecution said.
The four decided on the targets and rented an apartment for Rishawi and the
three suicide bombers who later attacked the hotels, the charge sheet said.
On November 5, Rishawi, her husband, Ali Hassan Shumari, and two other suicide
bombers travelled to Jordan and met with the rest of the defendants who provided
them with the explosive belts and information about their targets, according to
court documents.
Rishawi and her husband headed to Radisson SAS Hotel and entered a wedding party
where Rishawi's husband blew himself up. Rishawi tried to blow herself up but
the belt did not detonate and she left the premises, the charge sheet said.
She was arrested in Salt on November 13.
The two other suicide bombers, Safa Ali and Ruwad Mohammad, headed separately to
Days Inn and Grand Hyatt hotels where they detonated their explosive belts,
killing and injuring scores of people.
Four days after the November 9 bombings, Rishawi appeared on Jordan Television
and confessed that she married her husband in order to be able to enter Jordan
to launch the suicide attack.
Zarqawi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head by the United States, has been
sentenced to death by the SSC in absentia three times over the past two years.
The second case on Tuesday involved 12 defendants, including seven Syrians, four
Iraqis and one Saudi, who were indicted on charges of launching a rocket attack
in Aqaba that resulted in the death of a Jordanian soldier on August 19.
Six of the 12 defendants are in custody. They were identified as Abdul Rahman
Abdullah, 52, Mohammad Hassan Sahli, 53, his sons Yasser, 30, Bilal, 24, and
Baraa, 24, all Syrian.
A sixth defendant, Sameh Nobani, 22, is a Saudi citizen residing in Jordan,
according to the charge sheet.
The remaining six defendants at large are Amar Samerai, Abdul Halim Dalimi,
Hamid Dalimi and Hussam Dalimi, all Iraqi, and Abdul Ruhman Sahli and his
brother Abdullah, both Syrian.
They were charged with possessing explosives with illicit intent and plotting
subversive acts that led to the death of an individual.
Eight of the 12 defendants were charged with plotting activities aimed at
undermining Jordan's relations with another country.
Some of the suspects were instructed by an Iraqi named Abu Fahd to launch
attacks against the US and Israeli embassies in Amman, as well as against the
Israeli port city of Eilat, which is situated on the Red Sea across from Aqaba,
according to the charge sheet.
Sahli and his brother Abdullah smuggled seven rockets and timing devices in
their car while travelling from Iraq to Jordan, the charge sheet said.
The defendants fitted the rockets with the timing devices and placed them in a
warehouse in Aqaba to be launched the following day against US warships in the
port, according to court documents.
Four rockets malfunctioned. The remaining three missed their targets, but killed
a Jordanian soldier who was guarding a government hospital, the charge sheet
said.
In an Internet statement, Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the rocket
attack in Aqaba, but Zarqawi's name was not listed in the 12-page charge sheet.
The trial of the Aqaba attack defendants is expected to start in the next few
weeks, according to a judicial source.