15yr sentence upheld for ‘suicide vest’ plot

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a March State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a Yemeni man to 15 years in prison after convicting him of plotting subversive acts against security agencies in the Kingdom in July 2016.

The SSC declared the man guilty of preparing an explosive belt with the aim of using it against key security agencies in July 2016 and handed him the maximum punishment. 

Court papers said that the defendant joined the Al Qaeda militant movement in Yemen in 2014, training and then fighting with it for seven months before joining the Daesh terror group in early 2015.

“The defendant fought with the Daesh group and decided to carry out a suicide attack, preparing a suicide vest,” court documents said.

The convicted man then decided to fight in Syria and arrived in Jordan in May 2015, and lived in the Northern Marka neighbourhood, the court maintained.

“The defendant contacted some Daesh affiliates in Yemen to take on missions in Syria, but was informed it was too hard to travel to Syria, and that he should instead launch an operation against security agencies in Jordan,” the court documents said.

The man started sourcing raw materials in July 2016 to “manufacture an explosive belt, but was arrested by security agencies before he was able to carry out his plan,” according to the court verdict.

The convicted man’s lawyer, Musa Abdullat, contested the court ruling, stating that the SSC increased the punishment “against my defendant, who is a young Yemeni national, without listing any reasons”.

The attorney also stated that his client was “subjected to torture and duress to confess, and the SSC prosecution did not seize any weapons or explosives”.

However, the case was appealed and the higher court upheld the sentence, ruling late last month that the SSC’s proceedings were legally sound and the convicted man received the appropriate punishment.

The Cassation Court comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, Daoud Tubeleh, Mohammad Tarawneh, Mohammad Beirodi and Bassem Mubeidin.