AMMAN, 28 September 2006 — Jordan’s State Security Court (SSC) yesterday sentenced five alleged terrorists, including a cousin of slain Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi to jail terms ranging between six months and five years on charges of attempting infiltration into Iraq through Syria to fight US-led multinational troops there, according to judicial sources.
All five defendants were accused of “carrying out acts unlicensed by the government that could expose the country to the danger of hostile reactions and undermine the Kingdom’s ties with a foreign country,” the sources said. Raed Nawaysheh, who is still at large and has been tried in absentia, was sentenced to five years in jail with hard labor. The SSC decided to sentence Hassan Ujaimi to five years but reduced the jail term to three years “to give him the chance to rectify himself,” the sources said.
The tribunal passed 6-month jail terms on three other defendants. According to the indictment statement, the five suspects plotted to infiltrate into Syrian territory to recruit people to fight alongside Iraqi rebels against the troops of the US-led invasion.
