The 53-year-old Abu Qatada spoke during a hearing today before a military court in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
He appealed on the two main al-Qaida factions in Syria, the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, to offer "unequivocal submissiveness" to al-Qaida's chief, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Abu Qatada is on trial for plotting attacks against Israelis, Americans and other Westerners in Jordan in two foiled attempts in 1999 and 2000.