April 6, 2004
Jerusalem Post

Jordan's military court convicted eight Muslim militants and sentenced them to death for the 2002 killing of a US aid official in a terror conspiracy linked to al-Qaida.

The court also handed down jail terms ranging from six to 15 years for two other men convicted in the conspiracy, which began with the killing of Laurence Foley, 60, an Amman-based administrator for the US Agency for International Development. Foley was gunned down outside his Amman home on Oct. 28, 2002.

Col. Fawaz Buqour, the court's president, acquitted the 11th defendant, Numan al-Hirsh, saying there was no evidence to implicate him in the conspiracy.

The guilty verdicts can be appealed.

Among those sentenced to death was Jordanian militant Ahmed al-Khalayleh, better known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is thought to be a close associate of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. al-Zarqawi was among six defendants who were tried in absentia - his whereabouts are unknown.

US officials have offered a US$10 million reward for al-Zarqawi's capture, saying he is trying to build a network of foreign militants in neighboring Iraq to work on behalf of al-Qaida, the terror network held responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Foley's death was the only attack linked to the Jordan conspiracy, which allegedly targeted unspecified American and Israeli interests in Jordan.

Eleven Libyan, Syrian, Palestinian and Jordanian men had been charged in the conspiracy. Their trial began in the military State Security Court 10 months ago.

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