'Irbid terror cell' suspects referred to State Security Court

AMMAN — The State Security Court (SSC) attorney general on Sunday referred 21 suspects to the court to be tried on terror-related charges, a senior judicial source said.

“The SSC received the file of the case and it will be examined by the judges to make sure all the papers are correct, then the court will set a date to try the suspects,” the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The suspects, dubbed by the press as the “Irbid terrorist cell”, were charged with carrying out terrorist acts that led to the death of an individual, complicity in committing terrorist acts using weapons that led to the death of an individual, manufacturing and possessing explosive substances with illicit intent and spreading terrorist ideologies, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Sunday.

Some of the suspects were arrested in February, and their arrests led to a raid on a building in Irbid on March 2, which left one special anti-terror unit officer and seven suspects dead. 

After the raid, the General Intelligence Department (GID) said the seven suspects who were killed in the raid had opened fire at security officers with machineguns and were wearing explosive belts.

The raid, which resulted in the injury of five officers and two civilians, led to the arrest of 13 additional suspects.

Shortly after their arrest, the GID said the suspects were Daesh affiliates who were planning to carry out attacks on military and civilian sites in the Kingdom.

In May, Jordan Media Commission Director General Amjad Qadi circulated a gag order to all media outlets, banning all forms of publication regarding the March raid on the alleged terrorist cell in Irbid.

The judicial source said if the JMC “does not lift the ban on the media, then it will not be possible for the press to cover the trial”.