JORDAN: 2004 ANNUAL TERRORISM REPORT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 010040

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

FOR S/CT AND TTIC, ALSO NEA/ELA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER ASEC PREL JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN: 2004 ANNUAL TERRORISM REPORT

REF: SECSTATE 245841


1. (U) Per reftel, post submits the following language for
use in the 2004 Patterns of Global Terrorism Report. This
text also will be e-mailed to the S/CT POCs, per reftel.


2. (SBU) Jordan continued its strong support for the global
war on terrorism in 2004. Jordanian security services
disrupted numerous terrorist plots during the year, including
several that targeted U.S. interests in Jordan. It has
aggressively pursued the network of fugitive Jordanian
terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, deemed responsible for
several plots and attacks in Jordan and Iraq. In the most
serious plot disrupted to date in Jordan, security services
in April arrested Zarqawi affiliates in the advanced stages
of a plan to launch truck bombs against the U.S. Embassy in
Amman and Jordanian government targets. In an unprecedented
move, the Jordanian government aired the plotters'
confessions on state-run television, emphasizing their plans
to kill thousands, including Jordanian citizens. In late
April, government officials, including Queen Rania, joined
thousands of Jordanians in a street march against terrorism.


3. (SBU) Jordan's State Security court, which has purview
over terrorism-related cases, maintained a heavy caseload
over the year, most of which involved Zarqawi-affiliated
suspects. Developments in these cases were covered
extensively in the Jordanian press. The Court in April
sentenced eight men to death, including Zarqawi and five
others in absentia, for killing USAID official Laurence Foley
in front of his Amman home on October 28, 2002. The GOJ
announced in July that Muammar al-Jaghbir, sentenced to death
in absentia for his role in the Foley assassination, was in
Jordanian custody and would be re-tried according to
Jordanian law. In May, the Court found guilty three
Jordanians -- including one of Zarqawi's nephews -- for
plotting against U.S. and Israeli tourists in the country.
In June, the Court sentenced Ahmad al-Riyati and eight men
being tried in absentia (including Zarqawi and reputed Ansar
al-Islam leader Mullah Krekar) to prison for plotting against
U.S. interests. In October, the Court sentenced Bilal
al-Hiyari, a Zarqawi fundraiser, to six months in jail for
his activities. It also indicted Zarqawi affiliate Miqdad
al-Dabbas for planning attacks against Jordanian interests in
Iraq, including the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad. In
November, the Court began the trial of the 13 suspects
accused in the April plot, including Zarqawi in absentia.


4. (SBU) In one of the few non-Zarqawi related terrorism
cases, the State Security Court in September indicted two
Jordanians with jihadist leanings for plotting to attack
foreign diplomats in Amman. Separately, the Court in
November acquitted four men of charges they plotted attacks
against U.S. and Israeli targets in Jordan, although they
were sentenced to one year in jail for possessing a machine
gun.


5. (SBU) The Court also moved forward on other
long-standing terrorism cases. In June, the Court affirmed
its guilty verdict (first handed down in September 2000)
against ten men accused of plotting attacks during Jordan's
millennial celebrations, sentencing two to death. In
October, Jordan's Court of Cassation, which hears appeals
from the State Security Court, upheld the lower court's
guilty verdict of U.S.-Jordanian citizen Ra'ed Hijazi, one of
those sentenced to death for his role in the plot. However,
the Court of Cassation commuted the death sentence,
sentencing him to 20 years in jail with labor. The decision
is final, and no more appeals will be heard.


6. (SBU) Border security remained a top concern of
Jordanian officials in 2004, as the Jordanians continued to
interdict weapons and potential infiltrators at each of its
borders. In July, Jordanian border officials intercepted and
killed armed individuals attempting to infiltrate northern
Israel from Jordan. Jordanian border officials allegedly
intercepted suspects involved in the April Zarqawi plot as
they tried to enter Jordan from Syria. In November, a
terrorist driving a vehicle loaded with explosives tried to
cross the Iraqi-Jordanian border, but was stopped before his
explosives detonated.


7. (SBU) Jordan has been an active participant in the
U.S.-funded Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS)
program, sending eight senior officials to the U.S. for a
high-level exchange on EXBS in October. Jordan reported
Aqaba Port's compliance with the International Maritime
Organization's International Ship and Port Facility Code
(ISPS),a new set of international security standards that
went into effect in July 2004.


8. (SBU) The GOJ has publicly condemned terrorist acts
throughout the world in 2004, including Russia, Saudi Arabia,
and Iraq. King Abdullah was an outspoken critic of terrorism
and Islamic extremism, and in September directed religious
authorities to deliver the "Amman Message," a declaration
that rejects religious extremism and terrorism, and seeks to
promote moderate Islam and dialogue. The government in
November issued a public ultimatum to Zarqawi and his
affiliates to turn themselves in to authorities within ten
days.


9. (SBU) The government is considering an anti-money
laundering law that would combat terrorist financing, as well
as the establishment of an independent Financial Intelligence
Unit to monitor financial flows. Jordanian officials also
are considering amendments to a bank secrecy law more in
keeping with international security standards.


10. (SBU) Jordan is party to ten of the 12 international
conventions and protocols relating to terrorism. In 2004,
Jordan acceded to the Convention for the Suppression of
Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation and
the Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the
Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf.
The remaining two conventions, the Convention for the
Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and the Convention on the
Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, are currently under
active review by the government of Jordan.


11. (U) Baghdad minimize considered.
HALE