US embassy cable - 05AMMAN1783

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001783 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2015 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, PHUM, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: SUSPECT IN FOLEY ASSASSINATION GETS NEW LAWYER; 
ZARQAWI CHARGED WITH BOMBING JORDANIAN EMBASSY IN IRAQ 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 807 
     B. AMMAN 345 
 
Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (U)  The State Security Court appointed a new lawyer for 
Muammar al-Jaghbir, who is being retried for his role in the 
assassination of USAID officer Laurence Foley.  Separately, 
Jaghbir and Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi were formally charged on 
March 2 for bombing the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad in 2003. 
 The rancorous trial of a Zarqawi-related cell charged with 
plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Amman and GOJ targets 
last year continued as the men pleaded "not guilty" to the 
charges.  End Summary. 
 
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DEFENSE ATTORNEY APPOINTED IN FOLEY CASE 
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2.  (U)  Jordan's State Security Court on February 28 
appointed attorney Samih Khreis to defend Muammar Ahmad 
al-Jaghbir, a 34-year-old Jordanian national who is being 
retried for his role in the assassination of USAID official 
Laurence Foley in October 2002 (ref A).  U.S. forces arrested 
Jaghbir in Iraq in May 2004 and transferred him to Jordanian 
authorities for trial.  The Court sentenced Jaghbir (as well 
as Zarqawi) to death in absentia last year, but Jordanian law 
requires that he be retried now that he is in Jordanian 
custody.  The trial will resume on March 14 so his lawyer has 
time to prepare the case. 
 
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TWO CHARGED WITH BOMBING JORDANIAN EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD 
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3.  (U)  In a separate but related case, the State Security 
Court on March 2 formally charged Jaghbir with conspiring 
with Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi to bomb the Jordanian embassy in 
Baghdad on August 7, 2003.  The prosecutor also charged 
Zarqawi in absentia.  According to court documents, the men 
planned to attack Jordanian targets in Iraq as well as 
foreigners in Jordan.  Zarqawi allegedly asked Jaghbir to 
monitor the embassy and security around it, according to the 
prosecution.  They later agreed to use a GMC vehicle loaded 
with TNT to bomb the embassy, which killed 18 people, 
including a Jordanian, five Iraqi police officers, and 12 
other Iraqi passersby.  Midqad al-Dabbas is being tried 
separately in the State Security Court for his related role 
in targeting Jordanian interests in Iraq (ref B). 
 
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JAYUSI CASE FRAUGHT WITH DISCORD 
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4.  (U)  Nine members of the Jayusi cell currently on trial 
for planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and GOJ 
targets with truck bombs last April entered pleas of not 
guilty when their trial resumed on February 23 (ref A).  "You 
are the guilty one, not me.  I am not guilty," one of the 
defendants, Ahmad Abdul Fattah, screamed from the cage when 
Judge Bqour asked him to enter his plea.  Three others 
refused to enter a plea, but a judicial source told the press 
that Jordanian law stipulates that a defendant who abstains 
from entering a plea will be considered as pleading "not 
guilty."  Zarqawi and two others are being tried in absentia 
for their role in the same plot. 
 
5.  (U)  During the session, the Court rejected an earlier 
request from the defendants to remove the state prosecutor 
and to rule the interrogation procedures used by authorities 
to be illegal.  The defense had made the request out of 
concern that prosecutor Mohammad Obeidat would be personally 
biased as the group is also charged with planning to 
assassinate Obeidat.  In a nine-page memo explaining why he 
should stay on the case, Obeidat stated: "The state 
prosecution is a fair opponent and has no interest in being 
unjust to any person.  Our only aim is to expose the truth 
regardless of whether it is in favor of or against the 
defendant."  In making his decision to reject the defense's 
request, Judge Bqour said that the defense did not provide 
any evidence to prove that there were previous personal 
grudges between the defendants and Prosecutor Obeidat, and 
that the "defendants allegedly plotted to assassinate Obeidat 
because of his official position and not for personal 
reasons," according to press reports. 
 
6.  (U)  During a session on March 2, the prosecution 
produced seven witnesses who testified they had rented 
property, including warehouses, a farm, and apartments in 
Amman, Ramtha, and Irbid to the suspects.  Also during the 
session, the defense alleged the suspects were humiliated and 
tortured while in custody, repeating a common refrain among 
defendants in the State Security Court.  One of the defense 
attorneys, Mohammad Mihyar, told the court that his client 
was beaten in prison and locked in dark rooms.  He also 
alleged that prison guards took their underwear and refused 
to return them.  He called on the prison authorities to stop 
such practices, saying "such measures are a violation of the 
law and should not be repeated," he said. 
 
7.  (C)  Jordan Times reporter Rana Husseini, who attends 
most sessions of the Security Court, told poloff that the 
heavily-guarded Jayusi trial has been fraught with unusual 
levels of discord from the beginning.  She said that during a 
session last month, Jayusi openly ridiculed the judge and 
used extremely disrespectful language, telling the judge in 
so many words to "buzz off, no one among us is listening to 
you or will talk to you," according to Husseini.  She said 
that even in the court room, the defendants acted as a 
"gang"; for the most part none of them talked except Jayusi, 
who, when he chose to, responded on behalf of the others. 
She blamed the judge for some of the problems, noting that 
the court on at least one occasion timed the session to 
coincide with midday prayers, apparently infuriating the 
defendants.  As they entered the courtroom, shackled and 
handcuffed, they registered their anger by repeatedly (and 
loudly) chanting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great"). 
 
8.  (U)  Baghdad minimize considered. 
 
Please visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at 
http://www.state.sgov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through 
the Department of State's SIPRNET home page. 
HALE