Last week, the state security court charged Issam Barqawi, known as Abu Mohammed al-Maqdessi, "with recruiting people in the country to join Taliban in Afghanistan as well as terrorist organisations," the official told AFP.

"He was also charged with collecting funds for terrorists groups to carry out acts that would harm Jordan and its ties with other countries."

Maqdessi was arrested in September. The official said that five months ago, he "contacted people in Afghanistan to help him join fighters there but he was told not to come."

"He has issued many pro-Al-Qaeda fatwas, and published a book, which have enraged people in Saudi Arabia for accusing many of apostasy."

Maqdessi and three other suspects, who were charged with similar acts last week, face 15-year jail sentences if convicted.

In 1992, Jordanian-born Zarqawi met Maqdessi and later joined his Sunni militant group Jaish Mohammed (Mohammed's Army).

The pair was detained in Jordan for five years for membership of an outlawed Islamist organisation but was freed as part of a general amnesty in 1999.

The two later fell out over "ideological differences," and aides said Barqawi repeatedly denounced Zarqawi, who was killed in an air strike northeast of Baghdad in 2006.

Maqdessi was arrested again in Jordan in 2005 after remarks he made to Al-Jazeera television, but was released in 2008 for "humanitarian reasons" after going on hunger strike.

One of his sons, Omar, was killed in clashes with US forces in June. He was 27.

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