Jordan Times
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
8 men accused of
plotting attacks against tourists to stand trial
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN — Authorities charged eight men on Tuesday with plotting to attack foreign
tourists in the Kingdom and planning to launch military operations inside Israel
between 2004 and 2005.
State Prosecutor Major Fawaz Etoum summoned seven of the eight defendants and
informed them of the charges against them, which also include plotting illegal
acts that would subject the Kingdom to hostile actions and putting Jordan's
international ties at risk.
The seven, all from Irbid, were identified as Ali Omari, 29, Mohammad Jundi, 31,
Yousef Sweiti, 27, Mahmoud Abu Abed, 45, Imad Obeidat, 42, Hawari Darsieh, 39
and Abdul Rahim Shalbieh, 53.
The eighth defendant in the case, Abdul Muti Maalik, who resides in Syria, is
being tried in absentia on the same charges.
According to the charge sheet, the defendants had embraced takfir thoughts (labelling
people as apostates) and in November 2004 talked about the need to kill “foreign
tourists visiting the Kingdom.”
Maalik gave Abu Abed the task of recruiting the rest of the defendants to join
the Islamic Jihad Movement (IJM), the charge sheet stated.
The defendants planned to launch military attacks against a restaurant
frequented by foreigners in Qanater village in Irbid Governorate, the charge
sheet added.
Other targets included Joud Hotel in Irbid, a favoured destination for foreign
visitors, as well as tourist buses in various areas of the Kingdom, the charge
sheet said, adding that some of the defendants travelled to Syria and Lebanon in
October 2004 to attended courses on the manufacture of explosives and using
weapons.
The prosecution alleges that Hawari Darsieh travelled to Saudi Arabia and met
with a man called Abu Riyad, who identified himself as being an affiliate to a
group called the IJM.
“Abu Riyad gave Darsieh an amount of money to launch attacks against Israelis
inside Palestine via the Jordanian border,” the sheet stated.
However, authorities arrested the men before they carried out any of their
alleged plans.
A judicial source told The Jordan Times that the defendants are expected to
stand trial at the State Security Court within the next few weeks.