JORDAN. DEATH PENALTY SOUGHT FOR BORDER BOMB PLOT SUSPECTS

Jordan's state prosecutor called for the death penalty against Iraq's most-wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and two other suspects accused of plotting a suicide attack on the border with Iraq.
"The prosecutor wrapped up his case in the trial by re-confirming the charges against the three suspects and calling for the maximum penalty, including the death penalty," a judicial source said.
Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who had already been sentenced to death in Jordan for the 2002 murder of a US diplomat, and Ismael Mahmud Abu Audeh, a Palestinian also known as Abu Abdel Rahman al-Afghani, were being tried in absentia in the case.
The only defendant present in court since the trial opened on June 1 was Saudi national Fahd Numan al-Fuhayki who had repeatedly denied any involvement in the plot to carry out a suicide attack on the Iraq border in December 2004.
In mid-September Fuhayki said in a written statement to the court that he had confessed under torture.
The three defendants were charged with conspiracy to carry out an attack and possession and transport of explosives for use in an illicit operation, according to court papers.
They were specifically accused of plotting a December 3 attack in Al-Karameh, on the Jordanian side of the border with Iraq. Fuhayki was allegedly due to drive the car to the border and blow it up but his plan fell through when the explosives-laden vehicle fell in a ditch and failed to blow up.