Rakban terrorists sentenced to death, jail

AMMAN — The State Security Court (SSC) on Monday sentenced a man to death, three to life in jail and acquitted a fifth in the trial dubbed the Rakban case.  

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.

The 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, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

He said he tasked them to collect intelligence and obtain 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 landed a two-year jail sentence for possessing narcotics for purposes of trafficking and entering the Kingdom illegally.