Amman-Jordan’s State Security Court (SSC) on Sunday sentenced a Norwegian man of Iraqi origin to 15 years in prison with hard labor for the possession of explosive material.
Khaled Al-Rebai, 49, was found guilty by Amman’s State Security Court of possessing 44 kilograms of explosives and transporting them with the intent of planning terrorist acts.
The defendant was arrested on April 3 last year, before being able to carry out any of his alleged plots, the court papers said. He was referred to the State Security Court for possessing and dealing with explosives with the intent to carry out terrorist acts, subjecting the country to hostile acts and belonging to an illicit organization – Al-Quds Force – for the purpose of committing terrorist activities.
Rebai was found not guilty of subjecting the country to hostile acts and belonging to Iran’s Quds Force, the foreign army of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The indictment said that Rebai holds both Norwegian and Iraqi nationalities and was recruited by the Iranian intelligence, where he worked as receptionist at the Higher Council of Islamic Revolution. He also joined the Islamic Revolution’s military units to fight Iraqi forces. The indictment added that Rebai worked at the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ eavesdropping stations as the accused speaks both Arabic and Persian.
The indictment also said that the defendant was sent to Jordan before going to Lebanon, where he met with Abu Said, a Lebanese man who informed Rebai of the location of explosives hidden in Jordan’s regions of Ghabat Al-Shaheed and Safi Attal between Amman and Jerash. The accused was assigned with finding the explosive material and transferring it to a safer area in Jordan.
Rebai, who was recruited by the Iranian intelligence in the 1980s, was plotting to “use the explosives to carry out terrorist attacks on the Jordanian-Israeli border,” the court transcript added.
The defendant transferred the explosives to the area of Thagharat Asfour, the indictment said. He travelled several times between Iran and Jordan in 2014 and 2015 and coordinated with an Iranian intelligence official named Sayed Abbas on the transfer of the explosives.
In April 2015, Rebai travelled with his family to Jordan, where he rented a tourist vehicle and bought an axe to search for the explosives he hid in the forest. However, due to the rugged terrain, he was unable to find the explosives. Consequently, Rebai returned to Amman, where he was arrested by the security forces on April 3.
Following investigations, the defendant took SSC investigators to the forest and after an extensive search, the hidden explosives were found.