US embassy cable - 05AMMAN4529

UNCLAS AMMAN 004529 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC, PTER, PGOV, PHUM, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN: DEVELOPMENTS IN TRIAL OF SUSPECTS IN 2002 
MA'AN UPRISING 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 470 
 
     B. 04 AMMAN 10304 
 
1.  (U)  The highly contentious trial of more than 100 
Jordanians charged with involvement in the 2002 disorders in 
the southern city of Ma'an proceeded in Jordan's State 
Security Court this week.  Eight of the 14 in custody on June 
5 retracted their earlier confessions, which they said were 
extracted under duress (ref A).  "I was subjected to constant 
torture for three days by security forces and was forced to 
confess to something I did not do," the main defendant in the 
case, Mohammad Ahmad al-Shalabi (aka Abu Sayyaf) told the 
court.  "I didn't possess any illegal weapons or explosives, 
neither did I plot subversive acts against American interests 
in Jordan, nor did I shoot at any police officer in Ma'an 
during the riots."  (Note: Abu Sayyaf was previously 
convicted on weapons charges for a separate plot targeting 
U.S. interests in Jordan (ref B).  End Note.). 
 
2.  (U)  The prosecution is working its way down a long list 
of witnesses, including a police officer who testified that 
Abu Sayyaf in October 2002 threatened to blow him up if he 
arrested him.  "Shalabi was holding a hand grenade in one 
hand and a pistol in the other, and told me 'if you come near 
me I will blow myself up and kill you with me,'" Major Samih 
Ajarmeh, who was head of the Ma'an Criminal Investigation 
Department at the time of the unrest, told the court.  He 
said that a group of men who were in the area opened fire on 
him and the accompanying police team, enabling Abu Sayyaf to 
escape.  Another prosecution witness said he examined several 
rocket-propelled grenades and two hand grenades allegedly 
seized from the rioters, claiming they were primed for use. 
The former chief of the Ma'an City Police Department told the 
court that two of the defendants had fired on police with 
machine guns during the riots.  The disturbances left six 
people, including two police officers, dead. 
 
3.  (U)  The trial has been marked by discord.  At the 
conclusion of a court session on May 11, military prosecutor 
Fawaz Etoum asked the court to add Mohammad Abdul Muti to the 
list of defendants (raising the number in custody to 14), 
drawing curses and threats from the defendants present in the 
court room.  Defendant Khamis Abu Darwish spat at one of the 
guards who tried to calm the defendants following the 
90-minute session.  The court also referred eight prosecution 
witnesses to the criminal prosecutor on perjury charges after 
they retracted their previous testimonies.  The witnesses, 
all Ma'an residents, changed their testimony under oath, 
claiming they were subjected to torture and duress when made 
to sign written testimonies "which the authorities wrote on 
their behalf."  One witness had previously testified that he 
had seen two of the defendants shooting at police vehicles 
during the riots, and that he heard Abu Sayyaf and defendant 
Majdi Azzam call through loudspeakers for jihad against the 
police, with Azzam saying "we either live together or we die 
together."  The witness justified his retraction by saying 
that he did not see or hear the defendants, but was only told 
about these incidents by other people. 
 
4.  (U)  Tensions related to the trial continued outside of 
the courtroom, as 32 inmates at the Qafqafa Rehabilitation 
and Correctional Center began a hunger strike on June 1 to 
protest the prison's decision to put Abu Sayyaf in solitary 
confinement for a week.  According to Major Bashir Daaja, 
head of the Public Security Department (PSD) media office: 
"Abu Sayyaf was disciplined by the prison administration 
because he cursed and insulted prison guards and instigated 
others inmates to be disobedient."  Daaja said a prison 
doctor had examined the 32 inmates and they were all listed 
in good condition, but that Abu Sayyaf refused to be examined 
by doctors or be taken to the hospital for his routine 
medical checkup.  Abu Sayyaf had claimed during a May 15 
court session that he was facing health problems and that 
prison officials ignored his request to see a doctor.  On 
June 5, the PSD issued a statement saying that Abu Sayyaf had 
been released from solitary confinement after he and other 
inmates apologized to the prison warden for a verbal attack 
on the prison doctor and staff.  The trial adjourned on June 
5 for a week to allow the defense time to summon its 
witnesses. 
 
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