Jordan jails three Hamas members

Iran, Syria and Hamas have denied any involvement in the alleged plot

A military court in Jordan has jailed three members of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks.

The men were sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison.

All three were said to have had weapons and explosives and to have conspired to kill Jordanian intelligence officials and other targets.

The three men, of Palestinian origin, pleaded innocent to all charges and can appeal within 30 days.

The state security court sentenced Ayman Naji Hamdallah, 35, to 15 years of hard labour for "plotting to carry out terrorist attacks" in Jordan in 2006.

He claimed after his 2006 arrest that he received orders from an unnamed high-level Hamas leader living in Syria and he was able to lead the Jordanian authorities to a weapons cache in northern Syria.

Ali Ahmad Abu Rabei, 28, and Ahmad Nemer Abu Thiab, 30, were jailed for five years each for "illegal possession of explosives and weapons."