Jordan`s state security court Thursday served an ultimatum to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and an accomplice to surrender or face trial in absentia on terror charges. Yeah, that'll work.Thanks | The court said it gave Zarqawi, a Jordanian whose real name is Ahmed Fadil al-Khalayila, and Mohammed Rateb Koutayshat, also a Jordanian national, 10 days to turn themselves in to Jordanian authorities or be considered outlaws.
The two suspects are accused of conspiring to carry out terrorist acts causing deaths and of possessing arms and explosives for illegal purposes. Zarqawi, the leader of the al-Qaida branch in Iraq, been blamed for most bombings, kidnappings and assassination attempts in that country. He already is being tried in absentia in Jordan on several charges, including planning to destroy the Jordanian intelligence headquarters in Amman with chemical weapons and seeking to bomb border posts on the Iraqi-Jordanian frontier. Zarqawi has been sentenced to death twice in Jordan, and there is a $25 million bounty on his head. I suppose the ultimatum makes more sense in the original Jordanian: "Give yourself up or we'll sentence you to death a third time!" Or not. |
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