• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Witnesses Testify in Trial at Jordan's State Security Court

Posted on: Thursday, 8 December 2005, 09:00 CST

Text of report in English by Rana Husayni headlined "Five defence witnesses testify in trial of seven men" published by Jordan Times newspaper on 8 December

Amman: Five defence witnesses testified on Wednesday [7 December] in the trial of seven Jordanians standing trial at the State Security Court (SSC) on charges of recruiting militants to fight US forces in Iraq.

Other charges levelled by the prosecution against the defendants include carrying out and plotting activity aimed at undermining Jordan's relations with another country.

The prosecution has charged that the defendants were raising funds for fighters in Iraq.

Four of the five witnesses told the tribunal yesterday that some of the defendants used to help poor families in their neighbourhood by giving them food and other commodities. They also donated money to these families during Ramadan, the witnesses said.

The defendants denied the charges during a previous court session, claiming they were subjected to torture and duress by the security forces and that their confessions were "extracted under duress".

The seven defendants recruited fighters in Jordan and sent them to Syria, where an individual identified as Abu Janna provided them with military training, according to the charge sheet. Abu Janna also helped the recruits to infiltrate Iraq "to fight American forces and Iraqi policemen", the charge sheet added.

The defendants were identified in the charge sheet as Zayid S., 27; Khalid K., 33; Yildar W., 25; Ashraf M., 25; Hassan S., 25; Murad M., 25; and Abd-al-Rahman Y., 23.

The defendants were arrested in March and May of this year.

The trial was adjourned until next week.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

More News in this Category