VZCZCXRO2506
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #2761/01 3551403
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211403Z DEC 09  ZFR
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6558
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 002761 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
S/CT FOR RSHORE; NEA/ELA FOR MGREGONIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PINS PREL ASEC EFIN KCRM KHLS AEMR JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM 
 
AMMAN 00002761  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
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PLEASE CANCEL OR RECALL ALL COPIES OF AMMAN 002761. 
MESSAGE WILL BE CORRECTED AND RETRANSMITTED UNDER NEW MRN. 
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AMMAN 00002761  002 OF 003 
 
 
conference establishing the Regional Biometric Partnership 
Initiative, bringing together law enforcement, security, and 
forensic experts from twelve Middle Eastern countries.  Jordan 
presented a tailored biometric software package and proposed the 
creation of a regional biometric database for known and suspected 
terrorists in the region to allow the efficient sharing of data 
between governments.  The proposal won an endorsement in principal 
from other participants and could potentially do much to thwart 
terrorist travel and deny them safe havens. 
 
¶10. Jordan welcomed U.S. training and assistance designed to 
strengthen security at its ports of entry.  In December 2008, the 
U.S. and Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding for the 
Megaports Initiative, an agreement under which the U.S. National 
Nuclear Safety Administration works collaboratively with its 
Jordanian counterparts to equip seaports and other ports of entry 
with radiation detection equipment to prevent terrorists from 
acquiring, smuggling and using dangerous nuclear materials to 
develop a weapon of mass destruction or radiological dispersal 
devices.  Similarly, Jordan has striven to develop a comprehensive 
strategic trade control program to better manage the transit and 
transshipment of items of proliferation concern.  In support of this 
effort Jordan issued regulations governing the import and transit of 
dual-use items, established the interagency "Export Committee for 
Dual-Use Items," and participated in almost one dozen conferences 
and capacity-building activities. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Jordan's security services remained intensely engaged 
against terrorist threats. As a result of their vigilance, several 
planned attacks were disrupted prior to execution.  The State 
Security Court (SSC) has primary jurisdiction for terrorism cases 
and it maintained a substantial caseload during 2009. For example: 
 
--  In March, three Jordanians were convicted and sentenced to 22 
years for plotting a suicide car bombing against a Roman Catholic 
Church. The plotters had originally wanted to strike police 
facilities but shifted their focus to a Christian target after their 
surveillances revealed the difficulty of striking the police. 
--  In April, four men were arrested and charged with plotting 
attacks in Israel in retaliation for the Israeli incursion into 
Gaza.  The men were reportedly in possession of firearms at the time 
of their apprehension.  The alleged leader of the cell, Usama Abu 
Kabir, had been released from U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay in 
November 2007, after nearly six years of imprisonment. 
--  In April, the SSC sentenced three men to five years' 
imprisonment for plotting and preparing attacks against Israeli 
targets on behalf of HAMAS. Potential targets included the Israeli 
Embassy in Amman and border posts in Jordan Valley. 
--In October, the SSC imposed sentences of 15 to 20 years on twelve 
[B2]Jordanian Al Qa'ida sympathizers for attempting to attack a 
Christian church in the northern city of Irbid, as well as a 
Christian cemetery in the same city.  This group was also reportedly 
affiliated with an individual who fired upon a visiting Lebanese 
Christian choir in Amman in 2008. 
[B3] 
¶12. (SBU) In November, the Court of Cassation reduced the sentence 
of Muamar Yusef al-Jaghbir to 15 years incarceration for his role in 
the 2002 assassination of USAID Officer Thomas Foley.  Al Jaghbir 
was convicted of playing a secondary role in the killing, and had 
been previously convicted and sentenced to death in July in the SSC, 
but the Court of Cassation reviewed the case and reduced the 
sentence on appeal. He was also credited with the six years al 
Jaghbir had already served in U.S. or Jordanian custody following 
his 2003 apprehension in Iraq.  This ruling, however, is unlikely to 
result in al-Jaghbir's release in the future: he is also awaiting 
execution for his role in the August 2003 car bombing of the 
Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad that killed at least 14 people. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Jordan has been intensely targeted by Al Qa'ida in the 
past and Al Qa'ida's leadership has repeatedly called for attacks 
against the Hashemite Government and Western interests in the 
country.  In March 2009, for example, Al Qa'ida deputy Ayman 
Zawahiri called for extremists to "move into Jordan" from secure 
bases in Iraq in order to attack Jerusalem. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Jordan is a strong partner in the struggle against 
terrorists, but its financial sector remains vulnerable to 
money-laundering and terrorism finance.  Jordan has an Anti-Money 
Laundering (AML) law and in 2008, the Jordanian Securities 
Commission Board of Commissioners issued AML regulations for 
securities activities, a positive step toward defining obligated 
entities falling under the regulatory purview of the Commission. 
Furthermore, in 2009, Jordan began steps to implement a cross-border 
currency declaration form.  Despite these measures, however, a 
Middle East North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) 
review identified deficiencies in 14 of 16 core and key FATF 
recommendations for combating money laundering and terrorist 
financing.   Among the issues identified in the report are the 
absence of some predicate offenses in the existing AML statute, 
inadequate criminalization of terrorist financing, and the lack of 
 
AMMAN 00002761  003 OF 003 
 
 
legal procedures for freezing funds and assets of persons named 
pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1267 (for those suspected 
of funding Al-Qaeda or the Taliban). 
 
Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman 
 
BEECROFT 
 
 
[B1]This is the name on its letterhead. 
[B2]Use numbers for 13 and above.  Besides, in para 9, you use 
"twelve." 
[B3]Bullets don't work in cables and in the past, if there were more 
than five spaces before the start of text, the system thought the 
cable was over.  I don't know whether this remains an issue since 
cables are no longer scanned, but garbled next nevertheless remains 
the by-product of trying to format a cable like a document.