Foiled Jordan bomb plot earns Zarqawi fourth death sentence

JORDAN yesterday handed down its fourth death sentence in absentia on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, after finding him and eight others guilty of plotting chemical attacks in the kingdom.

Jordan's state security court said it had evidence that Zarqawi oversaw plans to use suicide bombers to attack United States and government targets. The plan was thwarted in April 2004.

"After the court examined the evidence, it has decided unanimously on the verdicts," said the chief military judge, Fawaz Baqour.

Five of the nine sentenced to death are in custody. A tenth suspect, also in custody, received a three-year jail term.

The plan included attacking intelligence headquarters and US interests in Jordan with a series of suicide bombings using lorries laden with chemical explosives.

The three-man military court found the nine militants guilty of "conspiring to undertake terror attacks", which carries the death sentence. They were also convicted of possession and manufacture of explosives and affiliation with a banned group.

The court gave a death sentence to Zarqawi's alleged Syrian right-hand man, Abu al-Ghadia. The fugitive was found guilty of sending money to, and recruiting and training, members of the group.

Security sources said interrogation of another Syrian, Anas Sameer al-Sheikh, 19, who was among those sentenced to death, showed extensive coordination among Islamic fundamentalists in neighbouring countries, without the knowledge of the Syrian authorities.

Prosecutors say Zarqawi smuggled main suspect Azmi Jayousi back to Jordan from Iraq and gave him a lead role in the foiled plot. They said Jayousi knew Zarqawi during their stay in Afghanistan in 1999.

If the plot had been carried out the explosions could have sent a cloud of chemicals across Amman, killing thousands.