U.S.

Jordan Convicts Y2K Terror Suspect

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 11, 2002 / 7:56 AM EST / CBS

Jordan's military court sentenced a Jordanian-American to death Monday after convicting him of plotting terror attacks against American and Israeli tourists in Jordan at the turn of the millennium.

But the court acquitted Raed Hijazi, 33, of prosecutor's assertions he belongs to the al Qaeda terror group. Before issuing the verdict Monday, the judge, Col. Tayel Raqad, said there was no evidence that the illegal organization had a formal structure or membership on Jordanian soil.

"You are found guilty of conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks in Jordan and your punishment is the death penalty," Raqad told Hijazi, who stood in his dark blue prison uniform in the dock.

The verdict can be appealed.

Shouting "Allahu Akbar! — "God is great! — Hijazi said to the judge: "Where is God's will? Why are you sentencing me to death? You are ruling against your people. (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon doesn't sentence his people to death."

Hijazi was an aid worker helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan for four years in the early 1990s. His name appeared in October on a U.S. Treasury Department list of 39 groups and people suspected of ties to "terrorist funding."

The list was part of a U.S.-led campaign against terrorism launched after the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. forces are still trying to track down Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the attacks.

Hijazi was charged last year along with 27 other suspected followers of bin Laden of plotting to attack U.S. and Israeli targets during millennium festivities. He denied the charges.

He was convicted in absentia and given a death sentence, commuted to life imprisonment, after a six-month trial.

Jordanian law requires that suspects convicted in absentia be retried if caught. Syria extradited him to Jordan more than a year ago and his retrial began last May.