AMMAN (AFP) — Jordan halved on Thursday jail sentences imposed on three people suspected of belonging to Hamas and convicted of plotting attacks in the kingdom in 2006, a judicial official said.

The court of cassation reduced sentences against Ayman Naji Hamdallah, 35, Ali Ahmdd Abu Rabei, 28 and Ahmed Nemer Abu Thiab, 30 to "give them a chance to improve themselves," the official added, without giving further details.

In June, the military state security court sentenced Hamdallah to 15 years for "plotting to carry out terrorist attacks." It jailed Abu Rabei and Abu Thiab for five years for "illegal possession of explosives and weapons."

The three men, of Palestinian origin, were arrested in 2006 as part of a sweep that netted 20 people, and confessed on state television that they had plotted to kill senior Jordanian intelligence officials.

Hamdallah has said he made frequent trips to Syria and tipped off the Jordanian authorities about a weapons cache, including Iranian-made Katyusha rockets, in the north of the kingdom.

Iran, Syria and Hamas have denied any involvement in the alleged plot, although Amman has not accused Tehran or Damascus of implication.

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