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Jailed Jordanian-American On Hunger Strike In Poor Health
AMMAN, May 16
(News Agencies) - A Jordanian-American jailed in Jordan since December 1999 without trial for alleged ties with Osama Bin Laden is in "poor" health since he started a hunger strike 13 days ago, his lawyer said Wednesday.
"I visited Khalil al-Deeq in prison today. He is in poor health and his condition is deteriorating," lawyer Yunis Arab said.
"He refuses to take glucose or anything else, and that is bad for him because he suffers from diabetes and this could lead to his death," Arab said.
He said Deeq was transferred to hospital Monday and Tuesday for a check-up and returned to his jail cell. "Hospital tests, we have been told, show he is suffering from low blood pressure and extreme fatigue," he added.
Pakistan extradited Deeq, 44, to Jordan in December 1999 where he was charged by the state prosecutor on four counts, including conspiracy to carry out attacks on tourists, including Jews, during New Year's celebrations.
Deeq was also accused of membership in Bin Laden's military network, Al-Qaeda (the Base), and with making and possessing explosives devices.
Deeq has denied all the charges against him but his case has not gone to court and repeated requests by his lawyer to secure his release on bail have been turned down by the authorities.
"Nineteen months have passed without a formal indictment against Khalil al-Deeq, without his case referred to court and without his release on bail," the lawyer said.
Throughout that time, Deeq was visited twice in jail by a U.S. embassy representative, once in January 2000, and once after he started his hunger strike.
Arab said that under Jordanian law, detainees cannot be kept in jail more than six months without a formal indictment or a formal renewal of the detention term, and urged the U.S. embassy to help secure Deeq's release.
"My client is not guilty of any wrongdoing," Arab said, adding that Deeq had no links with Bin Laden or 28 Islamists who went on trial in Jordan last year for plotting to blow up tourist sites during New Year's 2000 festivities.
Six members of that group were sentenced to death last September and the retrial of one of them, Raed Hijazi, a fugitive extradited to Jordan from Syria in December 2000, opened Wednesday in Amman.
Arab said that Deeq had been extradited from Pakistan "to give information" about that operation which had been foiled by the Jordanian authorities.
"Nothing incriminating was found on him. The only thing the authorities seized was a CD-ROM that contained general information about the Afghan war that can be bought by anyone from any shop," he said.
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