Death penalty for Jordanian-American upheld; planned to murder American tourists

Raed Hijazi

A military court in Jordan has "upheld a guilty verdict and death sentence for the third time Monday against" Raed Hijazi, "a Jordanian-American convicted of conspiring to carry out poison gas attacks on American and Israeli targets in Jordan three years ago." So says AP.

"Hijazi, wearing a navy blue prison uniform and sporting a long beard, asked Buqour after hearing the verdict: 'What have I done to deserve this (harsh sentence)?'

"'God is greater than you,' he shouted. . . .

"Hijazi — who was born in San Jose, Calif., and carries Jordanian and American passports — had pleaded innocent to seven charges, including possession of arms and explosives and conspiring to blow up Jordanian sites frequented by American and Israeli tourists during the New Year 2000 celebrations.

"Military prosecutors said Hijazi planned to attack sites including Mount Nebo, from which tradition says Moses saw the promised land, and a Christian settlement along the Jordan River where John the Baptist is said to have baptized Jesus Christ. . . .

"Hijazi testified in his trial early last year that he had no links to Osama bin Laden and that he did not plot terror attacks because to do so would be against the teachings of Islam."

A significant detail: "The military showed documents saying Hijazi was exposed to radical Islam as a student at California State University, Sacramento, in 1991 and heard testimony that he took military training in Afghanistan."

Posted by Robert at December 8, 2003 8:21 AM
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