An alleged Bin-Laden group militant appeared before...

An alleged Bin-Laden group militant appeared before the State Security Court on charges of belonging to an extremist ring, months after he was sentenced to death in absentia in a high profile case.
Ra'id Hijazi, 32, was extradited from Damascus to Amman in March, a development which prompted a retrial under the Jordanian penal code.
He had been convicted and sentenced to death in absentia within the framework of Al Qa'idah (the base) case, in which 28 suspects were allegedly involved.Hijazi and five other men were sentenced to death in September 2000 on nine charges, including conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks in Jordan and possession of arms and explosives. The prosecution said the group mainly targeted Israeli and US tourists during millennium festivities.
However the defendants were acquitted of charges of belonging to "an organized group" related to the Afghanistan-based Saudi dissident tycoon Usamah Bin-Ladin.
Hijazi was arrested in Damascus on October 1, 2000 and later extradited to Jordan. Under Jordanian law, a convicted fugitive has the right for retrial in case he was arrested.
Judicial sources have said Hijazi confessed to plotting terrorist attacks in the kingdom and to receiving bomb-making training in Afghan guerrilla camps. Hijazi has pleaded not guilty.
In the September 2000 trial, 22 of the 28 defendants were convicted and the remaining six were acquitted. Six of them were sentenced to death, 16 received sentences ranging from seven-and-a-half years to life in prison.