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.