A Jordanian security court sentenced to death in absentia...

A Jordanian security court sentenced to death in absentia Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Nidal for masterminding the killing of a Jordanian diplomat in Beirut in 1994.
The State Security Court convicted Abu Nidal and four members of his Fatah Revolutionary Council, three of whom were also at large, for their role in assassinating Nayeb al-Maaytah, Jordan's deputy ambassador in Lebanon. All five defendants were condemned to death.
Jordan considers the Fatah Revolutionary Council a "terrorist" group. The organisation is headed by the shadowy Abu Nidal, or Sabri al-Banna, who split from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's PLO in 1974.
Yasser Abu Shunar, 30, a Jordanian who was extradited from Turkey earlier this year, was the only defendant present during the trial. He has denied charges of shooting the diplomat.
"I am dissatisfied about the sentences and will appeal the court rulings," Hussein al-Masri, Abu Shunar's lawyer, told Reuters.
He added that his client had testified in court that confessions submitted by the prosecution after his arrest were extracted by the security forces under duress.
The other three defendants sentenced in absentia were Eghab Nemr Suleiman Fuqaha, 32, Ehsan Sadeq Radwan, 45, and Jamal Darwish Fatayer, 36.
Abu Nidal, 63, has earned a reputation as the most ruthless of all Palestinian guerrilla commanders and his group has carried out attacks in around 20 countries against Western targets as well as moderate Palestinians. His whereabouts are not known, although some reports say he is in Baghdad.
Under Jordanian law an appeal against the sentences can be made to a higher court and convicts at large would get a retrial if caught.