JORDAN: FIVE MEMBERS OF ISIL CELL SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR TERROR

December 28, 2016: A Jordanian court sentenced five members of an ISIL cell to death by hanging for acts of terrorism.
The state security court in Amman also handed jail terms of between three and 15 years to another 16 Jordanians in the same case.
They were found guilty of deadly "acts of terrorism", the manufacture of explosives and "possession of weapons and ammunition for use in terrorist acts" and recruiting people for "terrorist organisations".
The group of 21 were members of an ISIL cell that was broken up in March during a large-scale security operation in the northern town of Irbid, near the border with Syria.
Seven suspected militants and a member of the Jordanian security forces were killed during the operation.
The authorities announced later that they had foiled ISIL attacks in the kingdom, which had already been hit by deadly attacks over the past year.
Ten people were killed in a shooting rampage on December 18 in the popular tourist destination of Karak. The attack was claimed by ISIL and marked the first time the group had targeted civilians in Jordan.
Two days later, the authorities arrested a man suspected of funding the attack in a raid on a house in Karak province. (Sources: Agence France-Presse, 28/12/2016)