Trial of Islamist plot suspects begins in Jordan

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) - Five Islamists went on trial in Jordan on Monday accused of undermining national security by taking photos of the Israeli embassy and conducting surveillance at military sites, judicial sources said.

The Jordanian defendants, all suspected supporters of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, pleaded not guilty to charges of "seeking sensitive information that should be kept secret for the sake of the country's security", the sources said.

The men, who face a maximum sentence of five years in jail with hard labor if convicted, have been in custody since August.

The indictment said the five were members of Hamas and had conducted surveillance at the Israeli embassy in Amman, a supermarket that carries many U.S. goods, and military sites in the kingdom, such as border posts along the Jordanian-Israeli border.

The prosecution accuses the men of acting on orders of Hamas's Syrian-based leadership and seeking to recruit operatives in Jordan.

Islamists say the five are members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and an ideological ally of Hamas.

Defense lawyers said the case was politically motivated and designed to undermine the appeal of Hamas after an outpouring of support from ordinary Jordanians following recent Israeli offensives in Gaza, which is under Hamas control.

"The case is an attempt to distort the image of Hamas in the Jordanian street," Hikmat al-Rawashdeh, a defense lawyer and a leading IAF member, told Reuters.

Authorities in U.S.-ally Jordan have expressed alarm over dozens of pro-Hamas marches organized by the IAF in recent weeks that have attracted thousands of Jordanians who urged Hamas to stage suicide attacks to take revenge against Israel.

The Islamists draw widespread support from Jordanians of Palestinian origin, some of whom live in squalid refugee camps and are disenchanted with U.S.-led Middle East peace efforts.

Many Jordanians of Palestinian origin support Hamas, which says Palestinians have a right to all the land that is now Israel.

The trial is the first Hamas-related case since 2006, when Jordan arrested a group of suspected Hamas militants whom it accused of preparing attacks inside the kingdom. The authorities said at the time they had uncovered large caches of weapons smuggled from Syria, including Iranian rocket launchers.

The court has not yet reached a verdict in that case, and the defendants remain in detention.

Jordan outlawed Hamas as part of a crackdown in 1999, when the Amman offices of the Palestinian group were closed and its top leaders were expelled.

(Writing by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Caroline Drees)