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Friday, April 21, 2000
Bin Laden Suspects Plead Not Guilty At Jordan Trial
By Hassan Mekki
(Ma'af belum ada versi Indonesianya)
AMMAN, April 20 (AFP)-Fifteen people allegedly linked to suspected
terrorist Osama bin Laden pleaded not guilty here Thursday to charges
of plotting attacks on Western and tourist targets.
The suspects, as well as 13 fugitives being tried in absentia, face
stiff prison terms - or the death penalty - if found guilty
by the
Amman state security court.
During Thursday's 90-minute hearing the suspects were formally
indicted on charges including plotting to carry out terrorist acts,
possession and manufacture of weapons and membership in an outlawed
organization.
The president of the court, military judge Colonel Tayel Rakad,
adjourned the trial to May 7 at the request of defense lawyers who
said they needed time to acquaint themselves with the case.
Most of the lawyers were not even appointed to the case until
Thursday's hearing. Police, army and special forces were deployed
inside and outside the court house on the northern fringes of Amman
for the trial, which was open to journalists but not to photographers.
One of the defendants, Issam Barkawi, spoke to journalists on behalf
of his comrades ahead of the hearing as the others chanted Muslim
religious slogans and called for a "jihad."
"We were imprisoned because we are against the Jews and the Americans
and they [authorities] don't want us to fight the Jews and the
Americans," said Barkawi to reporters.
"We were jailed because we wanted to defend our religion, get rid of
Western man-made laws and impose sharia [Islamic legislation]," he
added.
Chants of "God is Great" and "God is Our Master, The Devil is Your
Master" surged from the cage where Barkawi and the other defendants
stood in their dark blue jail uniforms.
As the judge formally indicted them, one by one, the defendants
replied: "Not guilty. You are guilty." The judge ignored their
remarks.
One of the lawyers meanwhile accused the authorities of staging a
"political trial" to win U.S. support. "This is a political trial by
which they want to show the Americans that they are defending their
interests and therefore can continue to enjoy their support," said
lawyer Jawas Yunis.
Yunis, a champion of Islamic causes, also dismissed the alleged links
between the defendants and international terrorist suspect Osama bin
Laden. "Not all the defendants have met bin Laden. Most of them have
never left Jordanian soil," he said.
Jordanian security forces announced in December the arrest of 15
suspects, most of whom are Jordanians of Palestinian origin, while
one is an Iraqi and another an Algerian.
One of the fugitives, Omar Abu Omar also known as Abu Kutada, is
considered a key bin Laden assistant and the mastermind of the
network in Jordan. He is said to be living under political asylum in
Britain.
All the defendants are allegedly linked to bin Laden's group "The
Base" and accused of plotting to attack a Western-managed hotel in
Amman as well as archeological sites where tourists were expected to
flock during the millennial year.
The authorities have identified one of the sites as Wadi Kharrar on
the eastern banks of the Jordan River where Jordanian archeologists
and officials believe Christ was baptized.
Bin Laden has been stripped of his Saudi nationality and is believed
to be in Afghanistan.
He is wanted by the United States in connection with the 1998
bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which 224
people were killed.
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