Terror suspects threaten holy war against Jordan

IN A turbulent court hearing yesterday, al-Qaida-linked suspects charged with plotting a massive chemical explosion in Jordan shouted insults at their military judges.

They also threatened to pursue holy war until they topple the kingdom’s moderate Muslim Hashemite monarchy.

“Terrorism is a badge of honour on our chests until Judgement Day,” shouted defendant Hassan al-Smeik from the dock during a brief half-hour hearing. “In the name of God, we’re pursuing the path of jihad until we uproot you, exterminate your state until the rule of the king vanishes.”

Al-Smeik and 12 others, including fugitive al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are charged with conspiring to commit terrorism in April 2004 with a foiled plot to detonate an explosion at the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department in the capital, Amman.

The government says if the attack had been carried out, it would have sent a cloud of toxic chemicals across Amman, killing thousands.

The case is the first involving the cell since the November 9 triple hotel blasts claimed by al-Zarqawi’s group and carried out by three Iraqi suicide bombers. The bombings killed 63 people.

Only nine of the defendants are in custody, while al-Zarqawi and three others are being tried in absentia over the plot and other charges including possessing and manufacturing explosives and affiliation with a banned group, identified as Kata’eb al-Tawhid, Arabic for Battalions of Monotheism.

The defendants have declined to enter pleas, prompting the court to officially enter innocent pleas for each of them.

Prosecutors are urging the court to find them guilty of the terror plot, but did not specify the punishment they sought. Under Jordanian law, they could face the death penalty if convicted.

“We follow the steps of the Prophet (Muhammad), but we were accused of being criminals and terrorists and that we kill innocent people,” shouted the bearded al-Smeik as eight other defendants hurled insults at three presiding judges, screaming “Allah is our Lord; you have none; America is your God.”

Al-Smeik said if jihad “is terrorism, then we are terrorists and we’re proud that we’re frightening you”.

The trial was later adjourned until an unspecified date to hear the defence arguments.

Military prosecutors claim that prime suspect Azmi al-Jayousi acquired knowledge on manufacturing explosives and mixing poisons from training he received in Afghanistan in 1999, when he met the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi.

Their plot was uncovered and foiled when the nine were arrested in different police sweeps in Jordan in April last year.

In a televised confession last year, al-Jayousi said his group had plotted the chemical attack under al-Zarqawi’s instructions. But in subsequent court hearings, he told the court that his guilty confession was extracted forcefully.