Jordan Jails Recruiters Sending Terrorists to Iraq To Kill Americans
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
AMMAN, Jordan – A Jordanian military court on yesterday convicted 11 militants, including five fugitives, of running a network that recruited and smuggled fighters into Iraq to attack American forces.
The men were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 20 months to 15 years. Four other defendants were acquitted for lack of evidence.
All 15 men – eight Jordanians and seven Palestinians – were charged with recruiting would-be fighters, arranging their passage through Syria to Iraq and plotting attacks against American and Iraqi forces there to “harm Jordan’s relations with a neighboring state,” according to the indictment. The verdicts can be appealed.
Standing in the dock in blue prison uniforms, the defendants shouted insults at the tribunal’s three military judges. “You are the criminals,” they yelled.
The five men sentenced in absentia, who are believed to be in Iraq, received the longest jail terms – 15 years – with hard labor. The court handed down lesser prison terms of up to four years for the six men in detention, saying it wanted to “give them another chance to repent.”
Prosecutors said Jordanian cleric Hussein Fawzi Kudeisat, among those still at large, was preaching in a mosque in the northern town of Hanina, encouraging people to go to Iraq and fight the Americans.
Mr. Kudeisat asked the defendants to recruit militants and collect money for their travel expenses, the indictment said.
Prosecutors said five of the defendants agreed to cross the Jordanian border into Syria. At least one of them – Mohammed al-Titi – did so and met in Syria with a militant called Abu-Adam al-Tunisi.
Mr. Al-Tunisi took Mr. al-Titi to a safe house where he found Libyan and Saudi militants, according to the indictment. Mr. Al-Tunisi, said to reside in Syria, was mentioned in documents related to other uncovered plots in Jordan as the person in charge of harboring militants in Syria until they leave for Iraq.
Security officials said they had few details on Mr. al-Tunisi’s background or whereabouts. Mr. Al-Titi and another defendant were captured on their return to Jordan from Syria.
