SUSPECT IN FOLEY ASSASSINATION GETS NEW LAWYER;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001783 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2015 TAGS: PTER ASEC PHUM IZ JO SUBJECT: SUSPECT IN FOLEY ASSASSINATION GETS NEW LAWYER; ZARQAWI CHARGED WITH BOMBING JORDANIAN EMBASSY IN IRAQ REF: A. AMMAN 807 ¶B. AMMAN 345 Classified By: CDA David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) The State Security Court appointed a new lawyer for Muammar al-Jaghbir, who is being retried for his role in the assassination of USAID officer Laurence Foley. Separately, Jaghbir and Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi were formally charged on March 2 for bombing the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad in 2003. The rancorous trial of a Zarqawi-related cell charged with plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Amman and GOJ targets last year continued as the men pleaded "not guilty" to the charges. End Summary. -------------- DEFENSE ATTORNEY APPOINTED IN FOLEY CASE -------------- ¶2. (U) Jordan's State Security Court on February 28 appointed attorney Samih Khreis to defend Muammar Ahmad al-Jaghbir, a 34-year-old Jordanian national who is being retried for his role in the assassination of USAID official Laurence Foley in October 2002 (ref A). U.S. forces arrested Jaghbir in Iraq in May 2004 and transferred him to Jordanian authorities for trial. The Court sentenced Jaghbir (as well as Zarqawi) to death in absentia last year, but Jordanian law requires that he be retried now that he is in Jordanian custody. The trial will resume on March 14 so his lawyer has time to prepare the case. -------------- -------------- TWO CHARGED WITH BOMBING JORDANIAN EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) In a separate but related case, the State Security Court on March 2 formally charged Jaghbir with conspiring with Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi to bomb the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad on August 7, 2003. The prosecutor also charged Zarqawi in absentia. According to court documents, the men planned to attack Jordanian targets in Iraq as well as foreigners in Jordan. Zarqawi allegedly asked Jaghbir to monitor the embassy and security around it, according to the prosecution. They later agreed to use a GMC vehicle loaded with TNT to bomb the embassy, which killed 18 people, including a Jordanian, five Iraqi police officers, and 12 other Iraqi passersby. Midqad al-Dabbas is being tried separately in the State Security Court for his related role in targeting Jordanian interests in Iraq (ref B). -------------- JAYUSI CASE FRAUGHT WITH DISCORD -------------- ¶4. (U) Nine members of the Jayusi cell currently on trial for planning to attack the U.S. Embassy in Amman and GOJ targets with truck bombs last April entered pleas of not guilty when their trial resumed on February 23 (ref A). "You are the guilty one, not me. I am not guilty," one of the defendants, Ahmad Abdul Fattah, screamed from the cage when Judge Bqour asked him to enter his plea. Three others refused to enter a plea, but a judicial source told the press that Jordanian law stipulates that a defendant who abstains from entering a plea will be considered as pleading "not guilty." Zarqawi and two others are being tried in absentia for their role in the same plot. ¶5. (U) During the session, the Court rejected an earlier request from the defendants to remove the state prosecutor and to rule the interrogation procedures used by authorities to be illegal. The defense had made the request out of concern that prosecutor Mohammad Obeidat would be personally biased as the group is also charged with planning to assassinate Obeidat. In a nine-page memo explaining why he should stay on the case, Obeidat stated: "The state prosecution is a fair opponent and has no interest in being unjust to any person. Our only aim is to expose the truth regardless of whether it is in favor of or against the defendant." In making his decision to reject the defense's request, Judge Bqour said that the defense did not provide any evidence to prove that there were previous personal grudges between the defendants and Prosecutor Obeidat, and that the "defendants allegedly plotted to assassinate Obeidat because of his official position and not for personal reasons," according to press reports. ¶6. (U) During a session on March 2, the prosecution produced seven witnesses who testified they had rented property, including warehouses, a farm, and apartments in Amman, Ramtha, and Irbid to the suspects. Also during the session, the defense alleged the suspects were humiliated and tortured while in custody, repeating a common refrain among defendants in the State Security Court. One of the defense attorneys, Mohammad Mihyar, told the court that his client was beaten in prison and locked in dark rooms. He also alleged that prison guards took their underwear and refused to return them. He called on the prison authorities to stop such practices, saying "such measures are a violation of the law and should not be repeated," he said. ¶7. (C) Jordan Times reporter Rana Husseini, who attends most sessions of the Security Court, told POLOFF that the heavily-guarded Jayusi trial has been fraught with unusual levels of discord from the beginning. She said that during a session last month, Jayusi openly ridiculed the judge and used extremely disrespectful language, telling the judge in so many words to "buzz off, no one among us is listening to you or will talk to you," according to Husseini. She said that even in the court room, the defendants acted as a "gang"; for the most part none of them talked except Jayusi, who, when he chose to, responded on behalf of the others. She blamed the judge for some of the problems, noting that the court on at least one occasion timed the session to coincide with midday prayers, apparently infuriating the defendants. As they entered the courtroom, shackled and handcuffed, they registered their anger by repeatedly (and loudly) chanting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great"). ¶8. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. Please visit Embassy Amman's classified web site at http://www.state.sgov/p/nea/amman/ or access the site through the Department of State's SIPRNET home page. HALE