AMMAN, 13 March 2006 — Jordan’s State Security Court (SSC) yesterday sentenced five Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists to imprisonment terms after finding them guilty of plotting terrorist attacks in the country, judicial sources said.
Four of the defendants, who were arrested in 2003, received jail sentences of 10 years, while the fifth, who was tried in absentia, was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor, the sources said.
According to the indictment statement, the five defendants, who were affiliated with the Jordanian fugitive Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, received training in Syria and smuggled explosives from Iraq to be used in attacks against luxury hotels in the Jordanian capital.
They also planned attacks against Jordanian intelligence personnel, the judicial sources said.
The Jordanian authorities on Saturday hanged two men, a Libyan and a Jordanian, after the SSC convicted them for killing the American diplomat, Lawrence Foley, in Amman in October 2002. The incident was also masterminded by Al-Zarqawi, who received a death sentence for his role.
