US embassy cable - 05AMMAN2889

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002889 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, PGOV, PHUM, JO 
SUBJECT: TERRORISM CASES ADVANCE IN JORDAN'S SECURITY COURT 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 1783 
     B. AMMAN 2094 
     C. 04 AMMAN 5278 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (U)  Five separate terrorism cases moved forward in 
Jordan's State Security Court in recent weeks.  The 
prosecution in the case of nine Zarqawi affiliates accused of 
plotting against the U.S. Embassy and GOJ targets last year 
called several witnesses.  Muammar Jaghbir, accused of 
involvement in the assassination of USAID official Laurence 
Foley, pleaded "not guilty."  An attorney for the 16-member 
Tantawi cell from northern Jordan, who authorities say 
plotted to kill foreigners and GOJ officials, won the Court's 
approval to meet his clients one-on-one.  The Court on April 
4 upheld its previous guilty verdict in the case of nine men 
charged with plotting against U.S. and Israeli tourists 
during Jordan's millennial celebrations.  Finally, the trial 
of Mustafa Siyyam, charged with the car bomb attack against a 
Jordanian intelligence official, proceeded on April 3.  End 
Summary. 
 
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PROSECUTION WITNESSES TESTIFY AGAINST JAYUSI CELL 
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2.  (U)  The trial of nine men headed by Azmi Jayusi, accused 
of plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy, General Intelligence 
Directorate (GID), and Prime Ministry in Amman, proceeded 
this month (ref A).  Jordanian authorities allege that the 
Zarqawi-linked plotters intended to carry out vehicle-borne 
chemical bombs against its targets.  The prosecution called 
several witnesses in separate sessions on March 30 and April 
6.  Two testified that the cell's ring leader, Azmi Jayusi, 
bought chemical materials and laboratory equipment from them. 
 Others witnesses testified that Jayusi, and on occasion 
another defendant, Husni Sharif, sought to rent from them 
their properties in Amman and Irbid, or to buy trucks or cars 
they had for sale.    The witnesses said that Jayusi gave 
each of them a different name and claimed on various 
occasions to be a merchant or a manufacturer of perfumes or 
sweets.  All witnesses identified Jayusi when asked in court 
to point him out from among the other defendants. 
 
3.  (U)  Meanwhile, the Court ordered the prison doctor to 
examine Jayusi after his attorney claimed his client was 
suffering from high blood pressure.  Another defense attorney 
told the court that his clients had been harassed and 
mistreated in prison; the court responded by sending the 
prison administrator a request to treat inmates in accordance 
with the law. 
 
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JAGHBIR PLEADS NOT GUILTY IN FOLEY MURDER 
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4.  (U)  Muammar Ahmad Jaghbir, accused of involvement in the 
2002 assassination of USAID official Laurence Foley, pleaded 
not guilty to the charges during his re-trial in the State 
Security Court on March 14 (ref A).  Jaghbir is also standing 
trial in a separate case (along with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 
absentia) for his alleged role in bombing the Jordanian 
embassy in Baghdad in 2003. 
 
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DEFENSE ATTORNEY WINS RIGHT TO SEE CLIENTS IN PRIVATE 
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5.  (U)  An attorney representing members of the 16-member 
Tahawi cell, currently on trial in the State Security court 
for plotting terrorist attacks against GOJ and foreign 
targets (ref B), won the right to see his clients in private, 
on a one-on-one basis, a decision that may pave the way for 
other attorneys to meet with their clients away from prison 
guards' watchful eyes. 
 
6.  (U)  Attorney Zuhair Abul Ragheb told a reporter that he 
voiced his concerns to the judge on March 28, noting his 
experience the previous week at the Swaqa Correctional and 
Rehabilitation Center.  "Last week I visited my clients at 
prison but could not talk to them properly because they were 
behind wire-mesh windows and there were many other lawyers 
talking to their clients at the same time," Abul Ragheb said. 
 Judge Bqour immediately ordered officials at Swaqa, who were 
present in the courtroom, to allow the lawyer to meet his 
clients privately. 
 
7.  (SBU)  Earlier in the month, two prosecution witnesses 
testified that they had received threatening phone calls 
allegedly linked to members of the cell.  Fatmeh Rawashdeh 
told the court an anonymous person called her several times, 
ordering her to inform her brother-in-law, a GID officer, to 
"keep away from Muslims."  (The group is charged with 
targeting intelligence officers in Irbid who they believed 
kept watch over a mosque there.)  May Saleh, secretary to 
journalist (and Post contact) Ureib al-Rintawi, testified 
that she received a phone threat from an anonymous person 
saying Rintawi "better behave, or else."  The prosecution 
says the cell targeted Rintawi because he criticized 
terrorists during one of his television programs.  (Note: 
Rintawi told poloff last month that despite the threat 
against him, he received no communication from the security 
services, much less any protection, inquiring about his 
situation.  He said he only learned about the arrests in the 
newspaper and of the trial when his secretary was contacted 
to testify.  End note.) 
 
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MILLENNIAL PLOTTERS CONVICTED, AGAIN 
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8.  (U)  The State Security Court on April 4 upheld its 
previous guilty verdict in the case of nine extremists 
convicted in a plot to kill American and Israeli tourists 
during Jordan's millennial celebration in 1999 (ref C).  The 
Appeals Court had asked the lower court to review for a 
second time their guilty verdict on the grounds the charges 
against the men may have been dismissed under a general 
amnesty issued by King Abdullah in March 1999.  The judge 
said he upheld the verdict because the "final and decisive 
phases" of the plot -- planning of which dated back to 1996 
-- were hatched after the royal amnesty was issued.  During 
the heavily guarded court session, the defendants cursed the 
judge as the verdict was announced.  "Whoever rules against 
God's will is a criminal, you are God's enemy!" screamed 
Osama Sammar, who, along with Khader Abu Hosher, had been 
sentenced to death in 2000.  The verdict almost certainly 
will be appealed. 
 
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SIYYAM RE-TRIAL PROCEEDS 
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9.  (U)  The re-trial of Mustafa Siyyam, sentenced to death 
in absentia in April 2003 for his role in a car bombing that 
targeted a Jordanian intelligence officer in 2002, proceeded 
on April 3 (ref B).  Two prison inmates, incarcerated with 
Siyyam at Swaqa Correctional and Rehabilitation Center, 
testified that Siyyam looked tired and absent-minded when he 
was brought to the Jordanian prison in June 2003 after his 
detention in Iraq.  Siyyam, who has pleaded not guilty to the 
charges, claimed that his confession was extracted under 
duress.  He also previously claimed that he was tortured by 
U.S. personnel at Abu Ghreib prison in Iraq. 
 
10.  (U)  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