Amman - Jordan's State Security Court (SSC) on Thursday sentenced three alleged members of the radical Palestinian Hamas group to prison terms ranging from five to 15 years with hard labour for plotting acts of terrorism, judicial sources said. According to the charges sheet, the three men stood accused of smuggling weapons from Syria and undergoing military training there with the aim of staging attacks on Jordanian targets including intelligence personnel.
The tribunal decided to imprison Ayman Hamdallah for 15 years and Ahmad Abu Rabee and Ahmad Abu Diab for five years each.
Neither the defendants nor the Hamas leadership have conceded that the three men belonged to the hard-line Palestinian faction.
The three were arrested in April 2006 a day before the scheduled arrival in Jordan of the then Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.
Following the announcement that Hamas was involved in the arms smuggling affair, the government cancelled al-Zahar's visit to Jordan.
The development prompted speculation that the trial was of a political rather than legal nature.
The Jordanian government recognizes the Palestinian Authority and its President Mahmoud Abbas as the legitimate authority and refrains from establishing contacts with Hamas, which is affiliated to Jordan's key opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Lawyers for defendants said they intended to appeal the verdicts before the Court of Cassation within 30 days in compliance with the law.
