The trial of seven men suspected of killing four police officers during riots and protests in southern Jordan over rising fuel costs last year began on Tuesday.
All seven pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges in the indictment read to them in Jordan's State Security Court, official TV reported. Another man is being tried in absentia. No information was released about their identity.
Among the charges they face are "committing terrorism acts" and "promoting the ideology of a terrorist group". The court is headed by a military judge.
One of the four police officers, Col Abdul Razzaq Dalabeeh was shot dead during a protest in the southern governorate of Maan in December in response to the increasing cost of fuel and worsening living standards.
The area is populated mainly by tribes who have traditionally underpinned support for the Hashemite monarchy which has ruled Jordan since it was established as a British protectorate in 1921. But their members have seen government jobs curtailed as the economy stagnated in the last decade.
The other three policemen were killed days later when a security force raided a hideout of group of men suspected of killing Col Dalabeeh. The police described them as "a terrorist sleeper cell that holds Takfiri ideology", a term the authorities usually associate with ISIS and other religious extremists.
One suspect was killed and nine others were arrested in the raid, according to police.
The protests subsided after the authorities deployed security forces in the region and arrested dozens of people. Many who had protested peacefully were also appalled by the killing of Col Dalabeeh and withdrew from the streets, residents said.
Maan governorate is home to the main tourist sites of Petra and Wadi Rum.
