Riyad Yousef, 31, was sentenced to five years by the court, Osama Zayed, 31, and Badri Abed, 38, were each given seven-and-half-year, while Sinan Abdul Qader, 28, received an eight-year term. The tribunal had originally passed sentences of 10 and 15 years, which the court immediately reduced by half because "none of the defendants had a criminal record so they are being given a chance to rehabilitate themselves."

"These are harsh sentences, which we are planning to appeal at the Court of Cassation within the next 30 days," said Attorney Hussein Masri, one of three lawyers representing the defendants. He told The Jordan Times that the defense team also intends to contest the State Security Court's jurisdiction over the case. "Our clients should have been tried in a civil court because possession of illegal weapons charges should not be heard in the State Security Court," he said.

The 24-page verdict said that due to current events in the West Bank and the continuing Palestinian intifada, the price of weapons has risen. The price of a machine-gun now ranges between JD2,500 to JD3,000. It was this commercial factor, the court added, that motivated the defendants to smuggle weapons with the help of a number of sailors via Aqaba and Egypt.

The court record shows that Abdul Qader met with weapons merchants in Ma'an purchasing several machine-guns, live rounds and missiles. He then gave them to smugglers in Aqaba with the help of some of the defendants. On 17 February 2002, the group was in the process of delivering a weapons shipment near the Coral Club in Aqaba but a nearby police patrol unit saw them and arrested them. Upon searching them, the record revealed, they were found to be in the possession of machine-guns and missiles.