Jordan jails six Islamists for recuiting jihadis
AMMAN, March 8 (Reuters) - Jordan jailed six Islamist youths on Wednesday for between 18 months and four years for plotting to recruit Islamist fighters into Iraq from neighbouring Syria to fight U.S. troops, judicial sources said.
A state security court also sentenced another five accomplices in absentia to 15 years hard labour after they were also found guilty of "engaging in acts that are deemed to harm ties with a foreign country and infiltration and abetting smuggling into the country.
Four other men were acquitted because of a lack of evidence.
Prosecutors said one of the convicted fugitives, Hussein Fawzi Kudeisat, had preached in mosques in Jordan in an attempt to persuade young men to go to fight Jihad in Iraq.
Jordanian security officials estimate that several hundred Jordanian "holy warriors" have headed to Iraq since the 2003 U.S. led invasion to join various Sunni Muslim militant groups.
Security officials in Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally, say the rise in militancy is tied to growing anti-American sentiment after the invasion of Iraq.
A state security court also sentenced another five accomplices in absentia to 15 years hard labour after they were also found guilty of "engaging in acts that are deemed to harm ties with a foreign country and infiltration and abetting smuggling into the country.
Four other men were acquitted because of a lack of evidence.
Prosecutors said one of the convicted fugitives, Hussein Fawzi Kudeisat, had preached in mosques in Jordan in an attempt to persuade young men to go to fight Jihad in Iraq.
Jordanian security officials estimate that several hundred Jordanian "holy warriors" have headed to Iraq since the 2003 U.S. led invasion to join various Sunni Muslim militant groups.
Security officials in Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally, say the rise in militancy is tied to growing anti-American sentiment after the invasion of Iraq.
posted by Marko at 3/08/2006 01:00:00 PM
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