AMMAN, Jordan – Jordan's military court sentenced wanted terror leader Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi (search) to 15 years jail and a detained associate to three years behind bars Sunday for planning an attack on the Jordanian Embassy (search) in Baghdad.
The court convicted al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted terrorist, and Al-Miqdad Mohammad al-Dabbas, 24, of conspiracy to attack the embassy, the offices of the Jordanian military attache in Baghdad and unspecified American targets in Iraq.
The court has heard that the two Jordanians met in Iraq in November 2003 to plan an attack on the embassy following an August bombing on the same building that killed 18 people, which al-Zarqawi has also been accused of.
Al-Dabbas was accused of undertaking surveillance on Jordanian targets in Baghdad (search), including the embassy, and providing al-Zarqawi with descriptions of the building, perimeter walls, staff and security.
Al-Dabbas had pleaded innocent throughout the trial, which began Dec. 13. The guilty verdict can be appealed.
Al-Zarqawi is Al Qaeda's pointman in Iraq who is on the run with a US$25 million bounty on his head. Al-Zarqawi was tried in absentia was al-Dababs was arrested in Iraq on Feb. 26 and handed over later to Jordanian authorities.
Al-Zarqawi has been linked to numerous other crimes in Jordan and sentenced to death in the plot to kill 60-year-old U.S. diplomat Laurence Foley, who was gunned down Oct. 28, 2002 outside his Amman home.
Al-Zarqawi is believed to be directing anti-U.S. attacks and kidnappings in Iraq, where the Al Qaeda group he leads has beheaded several foreign hostages.
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