BBC News Online: World: Middle East

Death sentence for Jordan terror suspect

Jordan sentenced five other terror suspects in abstentia

But Hijazi, who denied the charges, was cleared of links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.

He told the court that he considered the verdict an attempt to gain more aid from the United States.

Shouting "God is great", Hijazi compared the judges to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"You are worse than Sharon," he said. "He kills Palestinians in Palestine and you kill Muslims here."

US list

Hijazi, 33, a former taxi driver in the US city of Boston, is said to have been an aid worker helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan in the early 1990s.

He reportedly received training in making explosives at a guerrilla camp in Afghanistan run by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

Hijazi was arrested in Syria in October 2000, a month after being tried and sentenced in absentia with five others.

His name appeared on a US list of terror suspects published after the 11 September attacks.

He confessed to the charges in custody, but since the beginning of the trial his lawyers have maintained that the confession was obtained under duress.

The verdict is subject to appeal.