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AMMAN (AFP) - A Jordanian court is expected to issue verdicts Monday in the trial of 28 suspected Islamists accused of plotting anti-Western attacks in Jordan, the lawyer of the key defendant said. "I was informed officially yesterday that the trial will resume Monday during which verdicts will be issued," Salah Badr, who also represents an Iraqi and a Jordanian, said. Badr said he expected harsh sentences to be handed down. "The trial took on a political aspect but we have full confidence that justice will take its course and we hope the court will take into consideration our defense, away from any external pressure," he said. Badr is defending Khader Abu Hoshar, the alleged ringleader of the group accused of plotting to carry out attacks against tourist sites and Christian pilgrimage destinations in Jordan during New Year's celebrations. The all-male group is also accused of links with Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden, who is wanted in the United States in connection with attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 that killed more than 200 people. State prosecutor Mahmud Obeidat is demanding the death penalty for Abu Hoshar and 11 other defendants, seven of whom are on the run. Obeidat has accused them of conspiring to carry out attacks in a bid to destabilize Jordan, illegal possession of weapons and explosives, and illegal production of explosive devices. Obeidat has also pronounced the other defendants "guilty" and said they should be sentenced accordingly to jail terms that can range from life with hard labor to several years in prison. All of the defendants have denied the charges against them as well as any links with Bin Laden or his network Al-Qaeda (the Base). Their lawyers insist they were only guilty of wanting to fight Jews and uphold Islam. "Khader Abu Hoshar and the others are innocent. He has never met Bin Laden, although he wished he had. I really don't know where they got the Bin Laden connection from," Badr said. The State Security Court, headed by a military judge Colonel Tayel Rakkad, will hand down the verdicts. The court's verdicts can be appealed. The trial opened in April and throughout the proceedings defense lawyers have charged that their clients testified under duress. Twelve of the defendants are fugitives and are being tried in their absence, including Omar Abu Omar, said to be one of Bin Laden's right hand men, and Munir Maqdah, an officer in Yasser Arafat's Fateh organization. Most of the defendants are of Palestinian origin, while one is Iraqi and another is Algerian. Sixteen were arrested in Jordan, most of them in December, before they could carry out the alleged planned bombings. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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