Jordanian court sentences three to death for fatal bombing

AMMAN, Jordan -- A Jordanian court on Tuesday condemned three men to death, including two still at large, for a terrorist bombing that killed two people last year.

The military State Security Court also sentenced four convicted accomplices to prison terms ranging from one year to life with hard labor. One of those accomplices was a juvenile.

The defendants were convicted of planting a bomb under the car of the wife of a senior Jordanian intelligence officer, Lt. Col. Ali Burjaq, in a district of Amman on Feb. 28, 2002.

The time-bomb exploded, killing two passing workers -- an Egyptian and an Iraqi. But Burjaq escaped unharmed, having driven away from the scene minutes earlier.

The four men in the dock, wearing long beards and blue prison uniforms, shouted "Allahu akbar!" -- "God is great!" -- when the presiding judge, Col. Fawaz al-Buqour, read their sentences.

Defense lawyers Misleh al-Farah and Adel Tarawneh told reporters afterward they planned to appeal.

The fifth defendant, the juvenile, stood in the public gallery, looking frightened.

Earlier Tuesday, the prosecutor, Lt. Col. Mahmoud Obeidat, urged the court to deliver heavy sentences "for the ugliest crimes committed against Jordan and humanity at large."

The court found that defendant Mohammad Arafat Hijazi, who was in court, planned the attack. He was convicted of terrorist conspiracy and condemned to death by hanging.

His two accomplices, Mustafa Siam and Ahed Abdullah Khreisat, who are at large, were found guilty of terrorist conspiracy and condemned to death in absentia.

The juvenile confessed in court to hiding information about the attack and was sentenced to one year in jail. The presiding judge said the punishment could have been harsher but he wanted to give the juvenile the chance of "a new start in life."