Court sentences man linked to Qaeda to 15 years in jail

Jordanian escapes death over US envoy murder

A death sentence against a Jordanian linked to al-Qaeda over the 2002 murder of an American diplomat has been commuted to 15 years of hard labor in jail, his lawyer said Sunday.

"The cassation (appeals) court last week rejected the state security court's decision to sentence Moamar al-Jaghbir to death and replaced it with 15 years of hard labor in prison for his role in the assassination of Laurence Foley," Fathi Daradkeh told AFP.

"The court's decision was based on the fact that Jaghbir was not in Jordan at the time of murder, did not take part in the assassination and did not know about its timing."

Daradkeh said his client heard about the attack from the media.

"The court saw in all these facts a reason to commute the sentence," he said.

The military tribunal condemned Jaghbir to death by hanging in July after a third re-trial for his role in the crime over charges of "carrying out terrorist activity aimed at killing an individual."

In 2007, the same court sentenced Jaghbir, who is already on death row for another conviction, to 10 years in prison with hard labor in connection with the murder.

But the appeals court demanded a new trial, arguing the military tribunal had not heard all the evidence against him.

Jaghbir was first sentenced to death in absentia in 2004 for Foley's murder, along with seven others including slain al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

But in line with Jordanian law, Jaghbir underwent a second trial after he was arrested in Iraq by U.S. forces and handed over to Jordan in 2004.

A Jordanian and a Libyan convicted with him in 2004 were executed in March 2006.

Jaghbir has also been tried separately for the deadly bombing of Jordan's embassy in Iraq in August 2003 that killed 14 people.