http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/200941514193067562.html
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
18:41 Mecca time, 15:41 GMT
Jordan jails 'Hamas spies'
The Palestinian Hamas movement was outlawed in Jordan in 1999
and its offices closed [AFP]
Three alleged members of the Palestinian Hamas movement have been jailed
in Jordan for up to five years after being convicted of spying.
Judicial sources said on Wednesday that the men had been found guilty of
trying to obtain "information that should remain confidential" and possession
of unlicensed automatic weapons.
Thabet Abul Haj, Salim al-Housani and Azzam Jaber were arrested in August
2007 and accused of photographing the Israeli embassy and border posts along
the frontier with Israel.
Israel and Jordan signed a treaty in 1994 that made it only the second
Arab country to normalise relations with the Jewish nation.
Hikmat al-Rawashdeh, a lawyer for the defendants, said that the case was
politically motivated and designed to undermine support for Hamas after an
outpouring of support from ordinary Jordanians following Israel's 22-day
offensive in the Gaza Strip.
"It's not a crime to take pictures of public locations that are available
even on the internet on Google," he said.
Military training
At the opening of the trial last year, the military prosecutor said that
Hamas had provided the men with military training in an unnamed neighbouring
country.
The military judge at the state security court initially sentenced the
three men to 10 years, but then halved the sentence.
Two other men were acquitted at Wednesday's trial for lack of evidence.
Last year, a group of suspected Hamas fighters were convicted of
preparing attacks inside the kingdom.
Jordan outlawed Hamas - which seized full control of the Gaza Strip in
June 2007 after pushing out security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the
Palestinian president - in 1999.
The Amman offices of the Palestinian movement were closed and senior
leaders were expelled.
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