Thirteen Jordanians will appear before the state security court Tuesday on charges of having planned "terrorist acts,” the main defendant’s lawyer told AFP.
The accused, all of whom are around 20 years old, were arrested in January for "planning terrorist acts and possession and fabrication of explosives," said the lawyer, Samih Khreiss.
There has been no previous announcement of their arrests by the government or attorneys.
Khreiss represents Bilal Khreissat, who is charged with heading the terrorist network, and two others.
"The network, the cells, to which the 13 accused are affiliated, is a small group, that does not have any ties with foreigners," the lawyer said.
The men were arrested in a January police raid, he said, in which "explosive materials had been found in the garbage outside the defendants' homes."
Jordan has received publicity for its arrests of scores of Islamists in 1999, who had links to terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. Twenty-eight of them were charged with plotting to bomb tourist sites and hotels popular with Westerners during Jordan's 2000 New Year's celebration.
Six were sentenced to death last September.
A Jordanian-American, held in relation for the case, was released to Lebanon in May, due to his poor health -- AMMAN (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
