The State Security Court on Wednesday confirmed jail sentences against seven Jordanians accused of recruiting men to fight US forces in Iraq after an appeals court approved them. The suspects were handed reduced jail sentences in March and their lawyers appealed the verdict but the appeals court backed the decisions taken by the military tribunal, an AFP correspondent said.In March, alleged ringleader Ziad Horani and co-defendant Khaled Sarqush each received five years of hard labour. Their sentences were reduced to four years to allow them to “improve themselves.” Four others were sentenced each to five years, with their terms reduced to three years for the same reason. The final defendant saw his sentence reduced to 20 months from three years and four months.
The suspects were indicted in July 2005 for “carrying out an activity not approved by the government, which jeopardised Jordan’s relations with another country,” namely neighbouring Iraq, court papers said. Defence lawyers initially demanded that former foreign minister Marwan Muasher testify as to whether the suspects had actually done anything to harm ties with Iraq, but finally dropped the demand. The suspects were specifically accused of recruiting fighters in Jordan and then sending them to neighbouring Syria to receive military training and then eventually infiltrate across the borders to Iraq.