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Failed Bomber on Trial Next Week Over Amman Attack | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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AMMAN (Reuters)- A failed female suicide bomber charged over the killing of 60 people in three hotel bombings in Jordan will go on trial next week, the prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.

Sajida al-Rishawi, 35, an Iraqi, will stand trial on April 24 in a state security court for the attacks on three Amman hotels on November 9 by her husband and two other male Iraqi suicide bombers.

Rishawi has been charged with conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts, causing death and destruction, and the illegal possession of weapons and explosives, and faces a death sentence if found guilty.

Rishawi tried to blow herself up during the attacks but her detonator failed to explode, Jordanian officials said. She was arrested shortly afterwards when she tried to take refuge with the family of her sister’s husband, a Jordanian killed in clashes with U.S. forces in Iraq.

Eight other people also charged in connection with the attacks, including al-Qaeda’s Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are still at large.

Zarqawi, a Jordanian whose real name is Ahmed Fadhil al-Khalayleh, has already been sentenced to death in absentia for involvement in plots to destabilize Jordan.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the Amman hotel attacks and vowed more strikes against Jordan, which supported the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.