Court upholds death, jail terms against Rakban terrorists

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation on Sunday upheld a ruling sentencing a man to death, three to life in jail and acquitted a fifth in the trial dubbed the Rakban case, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

In June 2016, a car bomb attack on an army post near Rakban refugee camp killed seven Jordanian soldiers and injured 11, prompting the immediate closure of the Kingdom’s northern and northeastern borders, which has remained closed ever since.

In December last year (SSC), the State Security Court  issued a death sentence against the main defendant in the case, Najim Omour, who confessed to recruiting the other four defendants for the Daesh terrorist group and assigning them to carry out the attack.

He said he had tasked them with collecting intelligence information and obtaining photos of the targeted site, according to Petra.

The SSC also issued a life sentence with hard labour against three defendants: Ahmad Bdour, Rashid Omour and Fandi Ghayath, while it found the fifth, Ahmad Al Ali, not guilty of all terror-related charges, yet he was handed a two-year jail sentence for possessing narcotics for purposes of trafficking and entering the Kingdom illegally.