US embassy cable - 03AMMAN5940

UNCLAS AMMAN 005940 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, KISL, ASEC, PREL, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDANIAN AUTHORITIES CHARGE 15 IN ANOTHER 
TERRORIST PLOT 
 
1. (U) In the second indictment against alleged terrorist 
plotters handed down in a month, Jordan's state security 
court formally charged 15 individuals with conspiring to 
carry out terrorist attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets 
worldwide, according to press reports on September 13. 
Military prosecutor Col. Mahmoud 'Ubaydat charged 13 
Jordanians and two Iraqis affiliated with al-Qai'da and Ansar 
al-Islam with plotting to attack "tourists, foreigners and 
members of Jordan's security forces in the Kingdom," adding 
that members of the group received weapons and explosives 
training in Afghanistan and Iran. 
 
2. (U) U.S. forces in northern Iraq on March 30 arrested one 
of the plotters, Jordanian national Ahmad Mahmud Salih 
al-Riyati, who was subsequently repatriated to Jordan. 
According to the charges, al-Riyati hatched the plot during a 
meeting in 1998 with Ra'ed Hijazi, a Jordanian American 
extremist sentenced to death by the state security court in 
February 2002 for "plotting to commit terrorist acts" against 
"Jews and U.S. interests" in Jordan during the millennium 
celebrations.  Al-Riyati allegedly met Jordanian national and 
al-Qa'ida official Ahmad Fadil Nazzal al-Khalaylah (aka Abu 
Musab al-Zarqawi) in Afghanistan, who asked him to join Ansar 
al-Islam and to plan attacks against foreign tourists and 
Jordanian intelligence officials.  Al-Riyati allegedly went 
to Iran in August 2001 to train other cell members to make 
explosives and poisons for attacks in Jordan. 
 
3. (U) Reputed Ansar al-Islam leader Najmeddin Faraj Ahmad 
(aka Mullah Krekar) also is named in the indictment for 
allegedly agreeing to provide members of the group with 
weapons and material to make explosives.  He also is believed 
to have met in mid-2002 with al-Zarqawi and Iraqi suspect 
Riya Saleh Abdallah, who agreed to provide weapons and bomb 
making materiel to the cell, according to the indictment. 
Unlike the other suspects who are believed to be in Iran, 
Krekar has had refugee status in Norway since 1991. Krekar is 
currently in Norway fighting expulsion.  Authorities in the 
Netherlands arrested Krekar in September 2002 en route to 
Norway. 
HALE