AMMAN: Jordan’s State Security Court on Wednesday handed down prison sentences to several defendants convicted in cases linked to plots to manufacture rockets and drones for use inside the country.

The cases are related to arrests announced by Jordan’s security services in April, when 16 people were detained for allegedly planning attacks aimed at destabilizing the kingdom.

The defendants were found guilty of manufacturing weapons for illegal use and of acts that endangered public safety and national security, according to court documents.

In the missile manufacturing case, defendants Abdullah Hisham and Moaz Ghanem were sentenced to 15 years of temporary hard labor, while a third defendant, Mohsen Ghanem, received a sentence of seven and a half years. 

The court said the men had established warehouses in Amman and Zarqa to produce and store short-range rockets, with funding and training from abroad.

In the recruitment case, defendants Marwan Al-Hawamdeh and Anas Abu Awad were sentenced to three years and four months in prison for attempting to recruit individuals for illegal activities and coordinating with foreign parties.

In the training case, defendants Khader Abdel Aziz, Ayman Ajawi, Mohammed Saleh, and Farouk Al-Salman received similar sentences for training others to carry out security-related operations inside Jordan.

In the drone case, the court acquitted four defendants, ruling that prosecutors had not proven criminal intent. The men, Ali Ahmed Qasim, Abdel Aziz Haroun, Abdullah Al-Hadar, and Ahmed Khalifa, were ordered to be released.

The April arrests, announced by the General Intelligence Department, had accused the suspects of forming four interconnected cells that sought to “target national security and sow chaos” using rockets, drones, and explosives. 

Officials said some of the suspects had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, an allegation the group denied.