Amman - Jordan's State Security Court Wednesday decided to jail three alleged Hamas activists for five years with hard labour after finding them guilty of espionage activities, judicial sources said.

The three defendants - Thabet Abul Haj, Salim al-Housani and Azzam Jaber - were found guilty of trying to obtain "information that should remain confidential" as well as possession of unlicensed automatic weapons, the source said.

The court acquitted two other alleged Hamas members for lack of evidence, the sources said. The five were arrested in August 2007.

According to the indictment sheet, the five were also charged with taking photographs of military sites and spying on foreign embassies including the US and Israeli diplomatic missions in Amman.

The tribunal first issued 10-year imprisonment terms on the three suspects, but the penalty was reduced to 5 years. The radical Hamas movement has denied the charges. The verdicts can be appealed within 30 days, the judicial sources said. (dpa)