Jordan Times
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Court upholds verdicts on nine men convicted of plotting terror attacks
AMMAN (JT/Agencies) — The State Security Court on Monday upheld death sentences against two men convicted of plotting attacks against Jewish and Western tourists in the Kingdom during the millennium celebrations.
Khader Abu Hoshar and Osama Summar were convicted
of possession of explosive materials and automatic weapons to be used for
illegal purposes.
The tribunal also upheld jail sentences against seven other defendants at the
third appeal since they were convicted in September 2000 of planning bombings
using sulphuric and nitric acids against tourist sites in Jordan, Agence France-Presse
reported.
A 10th man who had appealed last year declined to do so this time and is serving
a 7-year prison term.
Abu Hoshar and Summar are on death row while two others, Khalid Mughamis and
Saed Hijazi, have had their death sentences commuted to life in prison. The rest
face jail sentences of between seven-and-a-half and 10 years.
The men were among a group of 28 defendants who went on trial in 2000, including
six who were acquitted, and 12 fugitives.
The Court of Cassation had overturned the verdict in 2004, sending the case back
to the State Security Court for a retrial stating that some of the defendants'
convictions should have been included in a 1999 Royal amnesty.
The State Security Court already cleared all the defendants in 2000 of charges
of belonging to an illegal organisation because it was subject to the Royal
pardon.
The initial indictment list charged that the group plotted to bomb tourist and
Christian pilgrimage sites, including the Baptism Site near the Jordan River.
Lawyers for alleged ringleader Abu Hoshar and his fellow accused, who
consistently charged that the verdict was unfair and that testimony was made
under duress, are expected to appeal again, judicial sources told AFP.
Initially the group was accused of links to Al Qaeda network but the charge was
dropped for lack of proof.
The trial was held under tight security as armed police surrounded the dock in
the small courtroom as the verdict was being pronounced, the Associated Press
said.
Presiding judge Col. Fawaz Bqour said the verdict was upheld because the “final
and decisive phases” of the plot — planning of which stretched back to 1996 —
were hatched in late 1999, after the Royal amnesty was issued.