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DATE=9/18/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=JORDAN / TERRORISTS SENTENCED (L) NUMBER=2-266731 BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB DATELINE=CAIRO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: A military court in Jordan has sentenced six- men to death and 16-others to prison terms for plotting terrorist attacks. Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from our Middle East Bureau, six other defendants were acquitted. TEXT: Jordan's State Security Court handed down the sentences in Amman, saying those sentenced to death had a determined will to carry out attacks against American and Jewish interests. Sixteen defendants were given terms ranging from seven-years to life in prison. Twelve are fugitives and were convicted in absentia. The court cited a lack of evidence for the six acquittals. The 28-defendents, most of them Jordanians of Palestinian origin, were charged with plotting to attack Biblical tourist attractions in Jordan during millennium celebrations earlier this year. They were also charged with manufacturing explosives to use in bombing attacks. The defendants deny the charges and say their confessions were obtained under duress. The verdicts are automatically appealed (to Jordan's Court of Cassation). The court also ruled the defendants had no organizational affiliation. This appears to reject a charge by the prosecution that they had ties to the Qaeda organization of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden. The Islamist leader is wanted for bombings that killed 224-people two-years ago at the U-S embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. (SIGNED) NEB/FSB/WTW/RAE 18-Sep-2000 11:15 AM EDT (18-Sep-2000 1515 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .