A court case has begun in Jordan involving 13 people who are accused by the kingdom of planning military attacks on US interests. The group of defendants include three Saudis – who are to be tried in absentia – and Jordanian Muslim cleric Muhammad Chalabi, also known as Abu Sayyaf.
| Catchy nom de guerre. If I was an Islamic fanatic, I'd probably use that one, too. Everybody else does. |
According to state security prosecutor, Colonel Mahmud Obaidat, Abu Sayyaf was captured by authorities on Saturday.
| Hey! Just in time for his trial! |
The pro-government daily al-Rai newspaper, quoting the official list of charges, said the group initially wanted to go to Afghanistan to fight US troops there.
| "Hey, Abu Sayyaf! Let's go to Afghanistan and pot some Merkins!" |
"When the group found difficulty in travelling to Afghanistan they swapped the idea of travelling there with a plan to carry out the same attacks on Jordanian land," al-Rai said.
| "Whaddya mean, 'you can't get there from here'? Cheeze. Why'n't we just kill somebody here at home?" |
The most prominent of the 13 accused is Saud Muhammad Ali al-Khalaylah, the cousin of Ahmad Fadhil Nazal al-Khalaylah, known as Abu Musab Zarqawi, a suspected associate of Osama bin Laden, the daily said. |