Jordan Times
Monday, October 18, 2004
Jordan indicts Zarqawi,
12 others in terror plot
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN — Al Qaeda ally Abu Mussab Zarqawi and 12 other suspects were charged Sunday with plotting a thwarted chemical attack in Jordan.
State Security Court (SSC) Prosecutor Lieutenant
Colonel Mahmoud Obeidat yesterday summoned nine of the suspects and read them
the charges, which included “conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks,
manufacturing explosives and possession of weapons for illegal use,” according
to the charge sheet, a copy of which was made available to The Jordan Times.
The nine are Azmi Jaiousi, 36, Hussein Sharif, 44, Ahmad Abdul Fattah Ahmad, 23,
Hassan Samik, 23, Hussni Mustafa, 41, Wassim Abu Ayash, 26, Jamal Daghidi, 29,
and Mohammad Shaban, 19, and Anas Amin, 18 — both Syrians.
The four other suspects, at large, are Zarqawi, also known as Ahmad Fadel
Khalayleh, Ibrahim Kasheh, Suleiman Darwish and Shawqi Omar. All of them will be
tried in absentia.
The 13 were also charged with belonging to an illegal organisation, Kataeb
Tawhid (Battalions of Monotheism), believed to be linked to Al Qaeda network.
Some of them face death penalty if convicted at their trial, expected to begin
in November.
According to the 24-page charge sheet, Zarqawi told Jaiousi to assassinate
Obeidat and an unnamed General Intelligence Department (GID) officer. But
Jaiousi failed to do so and suggested instead a rocket attack on the Israeli Red
Sea resort of Eilat from Aqaba — a plan that was ruled out by Zarqawi.
Jaiousi then proposed an attack on the Movenpick Hotel in Aqaba, frequently
visited by diplomats, but Zarqawi again ruled out the target and ordered the
suspect to attack the GID. Jaiousi agreed and started preparations for the
attack, according to the charge sheet.
In April, the authorities announced they foiled the plot, which was part of a
larger conspiracy to attack the Prime Ministry and the US embassy in Amman.
The plot involved using trucks loaded with 20 tonnes of chemicals that could
have killed 80,000 people and injured 160,000 others, according to experts.
Zarqawi was sentenced to death in absentia by the SSC in April for a plot to
assassinate a US diplomat in the Kingdom in October 2002.
Zarqawi, who has a $25 million US bounty on his head, is blamed for a string of
deadly attacks in Iraq, including kidnapping and beheading of hostages.