US embassy cable - 04AMMAN10040

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 010040 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR S/CT AND TTIC, ALSO NEA/ELA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, PREL, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: 2004 ANNUAL TERRORISM REPORT 
 
REF: SECSTATE 245841 
 
1.   (U)  Per reftel, post submits the following language for 
use in the 2004 Patterns of Global Terrorism Report.  This 
text also will be e-mailed to the S/CT POCs, per reftel. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Jordan continued its strong support for the global 
war on terrorism in 2004.  Jordanian security services 
disrupted numerous terrorist plots during the year, including 
several that targeted U.S. interests in Jordan.  It has 
aggressively pursued the network of fugitive Jordanian 
terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, deemed responsible for 
several plots and attacks in Jordan and Iraq.  In the most 
serious plot disrupted to date in Jordan, security services 
in April arrested Zarqawi affiliates in the advanced stages 
of a plan to launch truck bombs against the U.S. Embassy in 
Amman and Jordanian government targets.  In an unprecedented 
move, the Jordanian government aired the plotters' 
confessions on state-run television, emphasizing their plans 
to kill thousands, including Jordanian citizens.  In late 
April, government officials, including Queen Rania, joined 
thousands of Jordanians in a street march against terrorism. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Jordan's State Security court, which has purview 
over terrorism-related cases, maintained a heavy caseload 
over the year, most of which involved Zarqawi-affiliated 
suspects.  Developments in these cases were covered 
extensively in the Jordanian press.  The Court in April 
sentenced eight men to death, including Zarqawi and five 
others in absentia, for killing USAID official Laurence Foley 
in front of his Amman home on October 28, 2002.  The GOJ 
announced in July that Muammar al-Jaghbir, sentenced to death 
in absentia for his role in the Foley assassination, was in 
Jordanian custody and would be re-tried according to 
Jordanian law.  In May, the Court found guilty three 
Jordanians -- including one of Zarqawi's nephews -- for 
plotting against U.S. and Israeli tourists in the country. 
In June, the Court sentenced Ahmad al-Riyati and eight men 
being tried in absentia (including Zarqawi and reputed Ansar 
al-Islam leader Mullah Krekar) to prison for plotting against 
U.S. interests.  In October, the Court sentenced Bilal 
al-Hiyari, a Zarqawi fundraiser, to six months in jail for 
his activities.  It also indicted Zarqawi affiliate Miqdad 
al-Dabbas for planning attacks against Jordanian interests in 
Iraq, including the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad.  In 
November, the Court began the trial of the 13 suspects 
accused in the April plot, including Zarqawi in absentia. 
 
4.  (SBU)  In one of the few non-Zarqawi related terrorism 
cases, the State Security Court in September indicted two 
Jordanians with jihadist leanings for plotting to attack 
foreign diplomats in Amman.  Separately, the Court in 
November acquitted four men of charges they plotted attacks 
against U.S. and Israeli targets in Jordan, although they 
were sentenced to one year in jail for possessing a machine 
gun. 
 
5.  (SBU)  The Court also moved forward on other 
long-standing terrorism cases.  In June, the Court affirmed 
its guilty verdict (first handed down in September 2000) 
against ten men accused of plotting attacks during Jordan's 
millennial celebrations, sentencing two to death.  In 
October, Jordan's Court of Cassation, which hears appeals 
from the State Security Court, upheld the lower court's 
guilty verdict of U.S.-Jordanian citizen Ra'ed Hijazi, one of 
those sentenced to death for his role in the plot.  However, 
the Court of Cassation commuted the death sentence, 
sentencing him to 20 years in jail with labor.  The decision 
is final, and no more appeals will be heard. 
 
6.  (SBU)  Border security remained a top concern of 
Jordanian officials in 2004, as the Jordanians continued to 
interdict weapons and potential infiltrators at each of its 
borders.  In July, Jordanian border officials intercepted and 
killed armed individuals attempting to infiltrate northern 
Israel from Jordan.  Jordanian border officials allegedly 
intercepted suspects involved in the April Zarqawi plot as 
they tried to enter Jordan from Syria.  In November, a 
terrorist driving a vehicle loaded with explosives tried to 
cross the Iraqi-Jordanian border, but was stopped before his 
explosives detonated. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Jordan has been an active participant in the 
U.S.-funded Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) 
program, sending eight senior officials to the U.S. for a 
high-level exchange on EXBS in October.  Jordan reported 
Aqaba Port's compliance with the International Maritime 
Organization's International Ship and Port Facility Code 
(ISPS), a new set of international security standards that 
went into effect in July 2004. 
 
8.  (SBU)  The GOJ has publicly condemned terrorist acts 
throughout the world in 2004, including Russia, Saudi Arabia, 
and Iraq.  King Abdullah was an outspoken critic of terrorism 
and Islamic extremism, and in September directed religious 
authorities to deliver the "Amman Message," a declaration 
that rejects religious extremism and terrorism, and seeks to 
promote moderate Islam and dialogue.  The government in 
November issued a public ultimatum to Zarqawi and his 
affiliates to turn themselves in to authorities within ten 
days. 
 
9.  (SBU)  The government is considering an anti-money 
laundering law that would combat terrorist financing, as well 
as the establishment of an independent Financial Intelligence 
Unit to monitor financial flows.  Jordanian officials also 
are considering amendments to a bank secrecy law more in 
keeping with international security standards. 
 
10.  (SBU)  Jordan is party to ten of the 12 international 
conventions and protocols relating to terrorism.  In 2004, 
Jordan acceded to the Convention for the Suppression of 
Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and 
the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the 
Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf. 
The remaining two conventions, the Convention for the 
Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the Convention on the 
Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, are currently under 
active review by the government of Jordan. 
 
11.  (U)  Baghdad minimize considered. 
HALE