Posted on 09/12/2005 11:45:05 AM PDT by jonatron
AMMAN (Reuters) - Twelve Jordanian militants hailed the September 11 attacks against the United States at the end of a trial that saw them jailed on Sunday for up to three years for plotting to kill members of an American dancing group.
Before the state security court passed sentence, ringleader Sheikh Abed Tahawi and his followers celebrated the fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks that claimed more than 2,700 lives in the United States.
"September 11 was a great day when we made America weep and rubbed America's face in the dirt," the 50-year-old bearded militant, his legs chained, shouted from inside the caged dock of the court.
The eleven militants also prayed for Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda who is accused of masterminding the attacks.
"God protect the Sheikh of the Mujahideen (Muslim holy warriors) Osama," they chanted.
Four years after the attacks, Americans paid tribute to and held memorial ceremonies for the victims of the hijacked plane strikes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Tahawi, a fiery preacher who was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia before coming to Jordan in 1992, was found guilty along with his 11 comrades of "conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks against U.S and Western targets."
They had been charged with plotting to kill members of a U.S. dancing troupe at a concert last year.
But the court failed to provide evidence the group -- whose sentences ranged from one and a half to three years -- possessed weapons despite prosecution charges Tahawi sent some of the young militants for training last year in Iraq's former rebel sanctuary of Falluja and in hideouts in Yemen.
Lawyers say this explained the relatively mild sentences.
Four others were acquitted in the trial that began in March.
The group planned to bomb a hotel in the northern city of Irbid that had Israeli patrons, according to the prosecution.
They also scouted several sites including camps where Western archaeologists worked and tourist groups frequented.
The militants hurled abuse at the military court, saying they did not recognize its legitimacy, saying it followed the orders of Israel and Washington, the sworn enemies of the Islamists.
"Our lord is Allah and your lord is America. You and your masters are slaves of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and (U.S. President George W.) Bush," they chanted.
Prosecutors say the militants are part of several fundamentalist underground cells uncovered in the last year in Jordan, which has seen a rise in the number of arrests of militants plotting attacks on Americans, Israelis and Westerners.
Senior officials in Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally, say the rise in militancy is tied to growing anti-American sentiment after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.
One more 9/11 type terrorist attack in America and we'll see who gets the last laugh...
Semper Fi,
Kelly
3 years? Wow, that will teach them...........whatever...
"September 11 was a great day when we made America weep and rubbed America's face in the dirt,"
Hey Sandy, guess what I did yesterday. I burned a koran on my backyard grill. Know what else? That grill has sure seen it's share of pork. Oh, and do you know what I did with the cover, 'cause it doesn't burn so well (I know by past expirience)? I cut it up with the outline of my shoe's insole and I'm walking around on it today.
How do you like that?
Owl_Eagle(If what I just wrote makes you sad or angry,
bump to the peeps
""September 11 was a great day when we made America weep and rubbed America's face in the dirt,""
- As opposed to them just eating dirt. What's that clamped to your leg Abib? Have fun in jail you stupid ignorent meat head.
..................
What makes you think that the people in Iraq and Afhanistan don't want what is going on there???
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