DATE=9/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=JORDAN / TERRORISTS SENTENCED (L)
NUMBER=2-266731
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  A military court in Jordan has sentenced six-
men to death and 16-others to prison terms for 
plotting terrorist attacks.  Correspondent Scott Bobb 
reports from our Middle East Bureau, six other 
defendants were acquitted.
TEXT:  Jordan's State Security Court handed down the 
sentences in Amman, saying those sentenced to death 
had a determined will to carry out attacks against 
American and Jewish interests.
Sixteen defendants were given terms ranging from 
seven-years to life in prison.  Twelve are fugitives 
and were convicted in absentia.  The court cited a 
lack of evidence for the six acquittals.
The 28-defendents, most of them Jordanians of 
Palestinian origin, were charged with plotting to 
attack Biblical tourist attractions in Jordan during 
millennium celebrations earlier this year.  They were 
also charged with manufacturing explosives to use in 
bombing attacks.
The defendants deny the charges and say their 
confessions were obtained under duress.  The verdicts 
are automatically appealed (to Jordan's Court of 
Cassation).
The court also ruled the defendants had no 
organizational affiliation.  This appears to reject a 
charge by the prosecution that they had ties to the 
Qaeda organization of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.  
The Islamist leader is wanted for bombings that killed 
224-people two-years ago at the U-S embassies in Kenya 
and Tanzania.   (SIGNED)
NEB/FSB/WTW/RAE
18-Sep-2000 11:15 AM EDT (18-Sep-2000 1515 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.