Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09AMMAN2761
2009-12-21 14:03:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

JORDAN: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM

Tags:  PTER PINS PREL ASEC EFIN KCRM KHLS AEMR JO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2506
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #2761/01 3551403
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211403Z DEC 09 ZFR
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6558
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 002761

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

S/CT FOR RSHORE; NEA/ELA FOR MGREGONIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PINS PREL ASEC EFIN KCRM KHLS AEMR JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM

AMMAN 00002761 001.2 OF 003


/////ZFR////////////ZFR///////////ZFR//////// //ZFR
PLEASE CANCEL OR RECALL ALL COPIES OF AMMAN 002761.
MESSAGE WILL BE CORRECTED AND RETRANSMITTED UNDER NEW MRN.
/////ZFR////////////ZFR///////////ZFR//////// //ZFR


AMMAN 00002761 002 OF 003


conference establishing the Regional Biometric Partnership
Initiative, bringing together law enforcement, security, and
forensic experts from twelve Middle Eastern countries. Jordan
presented a tailored biometric software package and proposed the
creation of a regional biometric database for known and suspected
terrorists in the region to allow the efficient sharing of data
between governments. The proposal won an endorsement in principal
from other participants and could potentially do much to thwart
terrorist travel and deny them safe havens.


10. Jordan welcomed U.S. training and assistance designed to
strengthen security at its ports of entry. In December 2008, the
U.S. and Jordan signed a memorandum of understanding for the
Megaports Initiative, an agreement under which the U.S. National
Nuclear Safety Administration works collaboratively with its
Jordanian counterparts to equip seaports and other ports of entry
with radiation detection equipment to prevent terrorists from
acquiring, smuggling and using dangerous nuclear materials to
develop a weapon of mass destruction or radiological dispersal
devices. Similarly, Jordan has striven to develop a comprehensive
strategic trade control program to better manage the transit and
transshipment of items of proliferation concern. In support of this
effort Jordan issued regulations governing the import and transit of
dual-use items, established the interagency "Export Committee for
Dual-Use Items," and participated in almost one dozen conferences
and capacity-building activities.


11. (SBU) Jordan's security services remained intensely engaged
against terrorist threats. As a result of their vigilance, several
planned attacks were disrupted prior to execution. The State

Security Court (SSC) has primary jurisdiction for terrorism cases
and it maintained a substantial caseload during 2009. For example:

-- In March, three Jordanians were convicted and sentenced to 22
years for plotting a suicide car bombing against a Roman Catholic
Church. The plotters had originally wanted to strike police
facilities but shifted their focus to a Christian target after their
surveillances revealed the difficulty of striking the police.
-- In April, four men were arrested and charged with plotting
attacks in Israel in retaliation for the Israeli incursion into
Gaza. The men were reportedly in possession of firearms at the time
of their apprehension. The alleged leader of the cell, Usama Abu
Kabir, had been released from U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay in
November 2007, after nearly six years of imprisonment.
-- In April, the SSC sentenced three men to five years'
imprisonment for plotting and preparing attacks against Israeli
targets on behalf of HAMAS. Potential targets included the Israeli
Embassy in Amman and border posts in Jordan Valley.
--In October, the SSC imposed sentences of 15 to 20 years on twelve
[B2]Jordanian Al Qa'ida sympathizers for attempting to attack a
Christian church in the northern city of Irbid, as well as a
Christian cemetery in the same city. This group was also reportedly
affiliated with an individual who fired upon a visiting Lebanese
Christian choir in Amman in 2008.
[B3]

12. (SBU) In November, the Court of Cassation reduced the sentence
of Muamar Yusef al-Jaghbir to 15 years incarceration for his role in
the 2002 assassination of USAID Officer Thomas Foley. Al Jaghbir
was convicted of playing a secondary role in the killing, and had
been previously convicted and sentenced to death in July in the SSC,
but the Court of Cassation reviewed the case and reduced the
sentence on appeal. He was also credited with the six years al
Jaghbir had already served in U.S. or Jordanian custody following
his 2003 apprehension in Iraq. This ruling, however, is unlikely to
result in al-Jaghbir's release in the future: he is also awaiting
execution for his role in the August 2003 car bombing of the
Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad that killed at least 14 people.


13. (SBU) Jordan has been intensely targeted by Al Qa'ida in the
past and Al Qa'ida's leadership has repeatedly called for attacks
against the Hashemite Government and Western interests in the
country. In March 2009, for example, Al Qa'ida deputy Ayman
Zawahiri called for extremists to "move into Jordan" from secure
bases in Iraq in order to attack Jerusalem.


14. (SBU) Jordan is a strong partner in the struggle against
terrorists, but its financial sector remains vulnerable to
money-laundering and terrorism finance. Jordan has an Anti-Money
Laundering (AML) law and in 2008, the Jordanian Securities
Commission Board of Commissioners issued AML regulations for
securities activities, a positive step toward defining obligated
entities falling under the regulatory purview of the Commission.
Furthermore, in 2009, Jordan began steps to implement a cross-border
currency declaration form. Despite these measures, however, a
Middle East North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF)
review identified deficiencies in 14 of 16 core and key FATF
recommendations for combating money laundering and terrorist
financing. Among the issues identified in the report are the
absence of some predicate offenses in the existing AML statute,
inadequate criminalization of terrorist financing, and the lack of

AMMAN 00002761 003 OF 003


legal procedures for freezing funds and assets of persons named
pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1267 (for those suspected
of funding Al-Qaeda or the Taliban).

Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman

BEECROFT


[B1]This is the name on its letterhead.
[B2]Use numbers for 13 and above. Besides, in para 9, you use
"twelve."
[B3]Bullets don't work in cables and in the past, if there were more
than five spaces before the start of text, the system thought the
cable was over. I don't know whether this remains an issue since
cables are no longer scanned, but garbled next nevertheless remains
the by-product of trying to format a cable like a document.