Jordan Militants Sentenced For Plotting Chemical Attack
May 21, 2008 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
Eight al-Qaida-linked militants were handed life sentences on Wednesday three in absentia for plotting a 2004 chemical attack on the U.S. Embassy and other sites in the kingdom.
The men — alleged associates of slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi — had been sentenced to death in a previous trial in 2006. But an appeals court overturned those sentences because the prosecutor was apparently one of the plot’s targets.
The men were arrested in 2004, weeks ahead of what prosecutors called a sophisticated plot to set off a cloud of toxic chemicals that could have killed tens of thousands of people. At that point the plan was in an “advanced stage,” with chemicals, weapons and vehicles already in place, according to an indictment.
Al-Zarqawi had given the men more than $118,000 to finance the plot, it said. If carried out, it would have been one of the first known chemical attacks by al-Qaida-linked militants.
The targets included the U.S. Embassy in the capital Amman, the prime minister’s office and the intelligence service’s headquarters.
The men all pleaded not guilty.
