Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Nine Pro-ISIS Jordanians Jailed for Plotting Terrorist Attacks | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Relatives of radical Islamist Cleric Abu Qatada, pictured outside the Jordanian State Security court in Amman. AFP


Amman – Jordan’s State Security Court sentenced nine men between 8 to 15 years in prison for involvement in alleged plots by ISIS and for promoting terror ideas in the Kingdom.

Islamist groups’ lawyer Musa al-Abdallat, defending eight out of the nine suspects, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the verdicts are very harsh since they are the maximum punishments issued by the court, which is between 3 and 15-years of prison.

Abdallat said that these harsh punishments represented a message for the Jordanians to limit the spread and sympathy with this terrorist group and a message to ISIS in precise.

One of the convicts planned to target the Marka Military Airport in Amman using an explosive belt before he was arrested by security agencies while monitoring the airport.

Three of the convicts, who received a 15-year prison term with hard labor each, plotted to target any foreign aircraft that lands in the airport using an improvised explosive device, in addition to blowing up a high-voltage line in the Jordan Valley.

They also planned to target foreign embassies in the Kingdom.

Another four convicts received orders from ISIS to attack army personnel while returning to their homes and record the attacks.

The terrorist group transferred money to the four convicts to buy weapons and press ahead with the scheme – they picked their target, which was a bus carrying army personnel in Zarqa, east of Amman, but they were apprehended by security agency before they executed the plot.

The court found the last convict to be one of ISIS’s supporters and members, who sought to promote the terrorist organization’s ideology online, and handed him an 8-year prison term with hard labor.