US charges Jordanian woman in 2001 Jerusalem bombing

The United States charged a Jordanian woman for involvement in a 2001 suicide bombing of a Jerusalem pizza parlour that claimed the lives of two American nationals.

The Justice Department unveiled charges against Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi, who was jailed in Israel for eight years in the attack that killed 15, before gaining release in an Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas in 2011.

The department said it will continue to work “with its foreign partners to obtain custody of al-Tamimi,” although Jordanian courts had ruled against the extradition of Jordanian nationals.

Coinciding with the indictment, the FBI put al-Tamimi on its "Most Wanted Terrorist" list on Tuesday.

Mary McCord, acting assistant attorney general for national security, described al-Tamimi as an “unrepentant terrorist”.

“The charges unsealed today serve as a reminder that when terrorists target Americans anywhere in the world, we will never forget – and we will continue to seek to ensure that they are held accountable,” McCord said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Justice Department said al-Tamimi, now in her mid-30s, escorted a Hamas suicide bomber to Jerusalem on 9 August, 2001, where he detonated a bomb in a Sbarro pizza shop.

After her capture, Tamimi pleaded guilty at trial and was sentenced in 2003 to 16 life prison terms. 

The US indictment charges her with "conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US, resulting in death".

Al-Tamimi faces a possible execution or life in prison if she is tried and convicted in the United States.