A failed female suicide bomber, whose husband helped to kill more than 60 people at an Amman hotel last year, told a court today that she had entered a marriage of convenience to carry out the attack, apparently in revenge for the death of her two brothers.

Wearing a dark brown veil that covered her hair and much of her face, Sajida Rishawi, who survived the first successful al-Qaeda claimed attack against Jordan after her explosive belt failed to detonate, said that she had married only to travel from her native Iraq to the Jordanian capital for the bombing.

In a low-voice, she accepted the court's offer to hire a state lawyer, to help defend her, because she had no money. If convicted she faces the death penalty.

"I am single… this is just a legal marriage contract," Mrs Rishawi, 35, told the three-member military tribunal, held amid tight security inside a makeshift court at a local jail on the outskirts of Amman.

"I do not have a lawyer. I have god to defend me. I have no money to hire a lawyer," she said, her eyes focused on the three judges.

According to the charge sheet, Mrs Rishawi and her husband Ali Hussein Al-Shammari, who was killed together with two other male bombers in the attack on a wedding reception, married just before arriving in Jordan on November 5, 2006. Muslim teachings ban single women from travelling without a husband, or male blood relative.

She was instructed to tell Jordanian border officials that she was seeking medical treatment for infertility, the charge sheet says.

However, The Times has learnt from interrogators that the marriage had not been consummated, and that Mrs Rishawi agreed to take part in the terror plot to avenge the killing of her two brothers, and a Jordanian brother-in-law, all al-Qaeda operatives, who died in US-led operations against the insurgency.

Mrs Rishawi fled the scene at the Radisson SAS hotel, and was arrested four days later after taking shelter at the modest home of her sister's Jordanian in-laws.

Shortly after her arrest she was shown on state-run television, allegedly confessing to her role in the attacks, claimed by Jordanian fugitive Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Mrs Rishawi, her husband and the other two bombers travelled by car to Amman on fake Iraqi passports, from the Western desert province of Anbar, a Sunni guerrilla stronghold.

Clad in blue jail uniform, she stood in the dock alone during the 10-minute hearing, which was adjourned for a defence attorney to be appointed.

The short, frail Mrs Rishawi avoided eye contact with the audience - some 50 journalists, and scores of plainclothes intelligence agents, security men, and three lawyers who ventured into the court, out of curiosity.

She is the only one of the eight defendants, including Zarqawi, who is in custody. The State Security court already has sentenced Zarqawi to death in absentia three times for his involvement in terror plots against his native country, including one that led to the killing of US aid official, Lawrence Foley, who was gunned down outside his Amman home in October 2002.

Before the start of the court proceedings, Mrs Rishawi was seen squatting on her heels inside the dock, and using her hands, to hide her face from the public and the only camera crew that was allowed in to film for official media.

She stood up when the judges walked into the courtroom, which was unusually quiet and calm. The defendants are charged with "conspiring to carry out terror acts by using explosive material that led to the deaths of individuals" and "possession of illicit explosive material".

The November bombings sparked outrage in a pro-US Kingdom, long seen as an oasis of stability in a turbulent region, and running one of the most efficient intelligence agencies in the area.

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