US embassy cable - 04AMMAN6212

UNCLAS AMMAN 006212 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, JO 
SUBJECT: MEN CONVICTED IN FOLEY ASSASSINATION, CAR BOMBING 
FACE RE-TRIAL IN JORDAN 
 
REF: AMMAN 2645 
 
1.  (U)  Jordanian officials on July 20 announced that two 
Jordanians who were sentenced to death in absentia for 
separate attacks in Amman -- including the assassination of 
USAID official Laurence Foley -- had been apprehended in Iraq 
earlier this year.  Now in Jordan, the two will face re-trial 
in Jordan's State Security Court for their crimes, as 
stipulated by Jordanian law. 
 
2.  (U)  The State Security Court on April 6 convicted 
Muammar Ahmad Yusef al-Jaghbir (and five others in absentia, 
including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi) for his role in Foley's 
October 2002 assassination (ref).  He is accused of helping 
form the cell that killed Foley, allegedly the first in a 
series of contemplated attacks against U.S. and Israeli 
targets in Jordan.  Jordanian officials also believe Jaghbir 
facilitated communication between the cell's mastermind (a 
Libyan already in custody) and Zarqawi. 
 
3.  (U)  The second man, Mustafa Siyyam, received a death 
sentence in absentia in April 2003 for his role in a February 
2002 car bombing that targeted a senior Jordanian 
intelligence official in Amman.  The official escaped 
unharmed, but the explosion killed two passersby.  The trials 
probably will begin in September, after the Court's summer 
recess. 
HALE