Defendant in millennium terror plot taunts judge

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- A man charged with a millennium terror plot against Americans and Israelis taunted the judge Monday and asked him to condemn him to death, shouting that he should deliver the sentence without considering a verdict.

Raed Hijazi, 32, is charged with conspiring to detonate bombs at sites frequented by U.S. and Israeli tourists during the New Year's 2000 celebrations in Jordan. He has pleaded innocent.

The judge in the military trial did not set a date for a verdict after lawyers delivered their closing arguments Monday.

Lt. Col. Mahmoud Obeidat, who is prosecuting the case, has asked the State Security Court to condemn Hijazi to death because of what "11 tons of explosives could have done to our tourist sites and establishments."

Obeidat said Hijazi had confessed to planning terrorist attacks and to having been trained in bomb-making in camps in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

In his final argument to the court Monday, defense lawyer Hani Abdul-Kader said Hijazi had confessed to the charges under torture.

Hijazi had earlier testified that he had no links with bin Laden and that he did not plot terrorist attacks because to do so would be against the teachings of Islam.

The judge had just adjourned the trial when Hijazi shouted: "You do not need to adjourn the session. You have the death sentence in your drawer. Just read it and execute me."

The judge left the court without comment.

Hijazi was convicted in absentia in 2000 along with five others who were sentenced to death. Later, Hijazi was arrested in Syria and extradited to Jordan in October 2000. Under Jordanian law, a person convicted in absentia is allowed a retrial after capture.

In this trial, the prosecution has also asked for the death sentence for two alleged accomplices, Ahmad Fadeel Al-Khalayleh, a Jordanian who is believed to be in Afghanistan, and Loa'i Ahmad Al-Saqa, a Syrian who is believed to be in Turkey.