Jordan convicts 10 in envoy death
By Caroline Faraj
CNNArabic.com Editor
(CNN) -- A Jordanian military court has convicted 10 people -- including a Jordanian suspected of operating in Iraq -- for the 2002 assassination of U.S. diplomat Lawrence Foley in Amman, a court official told CNN.
Eight of the 10 were sentenced to death, one was sentenced to 15 years in prison and one was sentenced to three years in prison, court president Col. Fawaz Buqour said.
Six of those sentenced to die were tried in absentia, including Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmed al-Khalayleh, the colonel said.
U.S. officials believe Zarqawi is behind much of the insurgency in Iraq.
They cite an unsigned, unaddressed letter they found earlier this year on a computer disk -- apparently asking for help from al Qaeda -- as proof of Zarqawi's operations.
Jordan has notified countries with which it has extradition agreements that the six convicted suspects are wanted in Jordan, a source said.
However, Buqour said that under Jordanian law they would be retried if they were returned.
All 10 people convicted also were found guilty of being involved in a terror conspiracy linked to al Qaeda. All of them have the right to appeal.
An 11th suspect was found not guilty and released, Buqour said.
Foley, a senior administrative officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development in Jordan, was gunned down in front of his house in Amman on the morning of October 28, 2002 as he was walking to his car.
