VZCZCXRO9896
OO RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHAM #1176 0471622
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 161622Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8259
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS AMMAN 001176 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PHUM ASEC IZ SY JO
SUBJECT: VERDICTS IN THE CHEMICAL PLOT, ZARQAWI SENTENCED 
TO DEATH - AGAIN 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 05 1783 
 
     ¶B. AMMAN 05 7438 
     ¶C. AMMAN 05 8717 
     ¶D. AMMAN 05 9515 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Jordan's State Security Court (SSC) on 
February 14 sentenced nine men to hang, including al-Qaida in 
Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, for the 2004 plot to carry 
out a chemical/vehicle-borne explosive attack against the 
U.S. Embassy and Jordanian government targets.  The plot's 
mastermind, Azmi al-Jayousi, and four co-defendants, all 
members of the outlawed Kataeb Al Tawhid ("Monotheism 
Brigades"), were present for the sentencing, while Zarqawi, 
already sentenced to death for the 2002 assassination of U.S. 
diplomat Lawrence Foley and for the failed 2004 suicide 
attack on the Jordanian-Iraqi border, and three others were 
condemned to the death penalty in absentia.  The court 
sentenced two of the 13 defendants to prison terms of between 
one and three years, and acquitted another two defendants. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) The SSC found Azmi Jaiousi, Hussein Mustafa, Ahmad 
Samir, Hassan Samik and Syrian Anas Amin guilty of conspiracy 
to plot terrorist acts and with manufacturing and possessing 
explosives with illicit intent.  Zarqawi and three other 
defendants, Shawqi Ahmad, Ibrahim Mohammad, and Syrian 
Suleiman Khalid Darwish, were sentenced to death in absentia 
on the same count.  The SSC also sentenced Wassim Mohammad to 
three years in prison for plotting illegal actions.  Jamal 
Daghidi was convicted of harboring a fugitive, but was 
sentenced to time served and released.  The court acquitted 
two other defendants, including Syrian Mohammad Salmah, 
finding they had no knowledge of the plots.  Upon hearing of 
the acquittal of Salmah, several defendants accused him of 
collaborating with the authorities.  The defendants also 
accused the court as unjust and a tool of the West. 
 
¶3. (U) The trial of the 13 defendants, beginning in February 
2005, was marked by Jayousi,s disruptive behavior, and by 
the efforts of the defendants and their lawyers, to delay the 
proceedings.  During the trial Jayousi threatened court 
officials with decapitation, ridiculed the judges - throwing 
his slippers at one - and, at one point, chanted "Allah 
Akhbar" for half an hour.  Defense lawyers in March 2005 
alleged the defendants were humiliated and tortured while in 
custody, and requested that prosecutor Mohammad Obeidat be 
removed from the case as the group was also charged with 
planning to assassinate Obeidat (Ref A).  In September 2005, 
defense lawyers requested the court summon a former General 
Intelligence Directorate chief, a serving intelligence 
officer, and an SSC prosecutor general as witnesses to prove 
that the defendants did not possess hazardous chemicals (Ref 
B).  In October 2005 defense lawyers called an expert witness 
who testified that the seized chemicals were hazardous, but 
that great expertise would have been needed to make the 
chemicals effective as a weapon (Ref C). 
 
¶4. (U) The defense now has 30 days to appeal the decision. 
If the Court of Appeals upholds the SSC,s verdict, the King 
must sign death warrants before any executions can take place. 
HALE