Jordan Jails Four over Links with IS Group

A Jordanian court on Monday sentenced four men to jail on charges of membership of the Islamic State group and for promoting the jihadist organization on the Internet.

The four Jordanians were arrested in August and put on trial at the state security court last week.

Two were given five years each in prison for IS membership and the other two were jailed for three years for "spreading the ideology of a terrorist group on the Internet", an AFP reporter said.

The IS has set up a self-declared Islamic caliphate on territory it has seized in Jordan's neighbors Syria and Iraq, raising fears that they could also gain ground in the tiny desert kingdom.

Jordan is one of five Arab States -- along with Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- taking part in the U.S.-led air campaign against the IS in Syria, where the group is headquartered.

Joining the coalition has put Jordan in danger, analysts have said.

In addition to sharing borders with conflict-hit Syria and Iraq, Jordan is grappling with its own home-grown Islamists question, and also hosts more than 600,000 Syrian refugees.

King Abdullah has said Jordan's participation "in the war on terrorism is within the framework of protecting its interests and consolidating its security faced with the chaos in neighboring states and throughout the region".