Jordan's military prosecutor indicted 13 alleged Muslim militants yesterday, including fugitive Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, for an al-Qaeda linked plot to attack targets in Jordan with chemical and conventional weapons, government officials said yesterday.
Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Obeidat summoned the nine terror suspects who are in custody and read them the charges listed in the indictment, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
They said the four at large, including al-Zarqawi, were also charged and would be tried in absentia. The trial was expected to begin next month.
Al-Zarqawi, the best-known figure indicted, is thought to be directing anti-US attacks and kidnappings in Iraq, where he leads the Tawhid and Jihad group.
Security officials have said the plot targeted the Jordanian prime minister's office, the secret service agency, the US Embassy in Jordan and other sites.
Azmi al-Jayousi, the alleged mastermind of the cell who was captured in April, has confessed to military prosecutors plans for a chemical attack, the officials said.
The military court is expected to issue a 10-day grace period this week for the four fugitives to surrender to authorities -- a process which precedes the opening of the trial. In Jordan, charges become formal when read aloud at the opening of the trial.
The charges on seven counts include conspiring to commit terror attacks in Jordan, possessing and manufacturing explosive material and affiliation with a banned group, the officials added. The group in question has been identified as Kata'eb al-Tawhid (Battalions of Monotheism), a previously unknown group said to be linked to al-Qaeda. If convicted on all counts, defendants could be sentenced to death.
Security officials and, in televised confessions some of the detained suspects themselves, have said the plot was linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.
Besides the 13 suspects, four were killed in a police shootout on April 20, when the terror plot was uncovered and foiled with most members of the Jordanian cell arrested.
Jordan announced in April it had foiled a terrorist plot blamed on al-Zarqawi.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS