AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a May 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Irbid in November 2021.
The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics (hashish) with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on November 29.
The SSC handed the defendant five years in prison for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics and ordered him to pay JD5,000 in fines.
However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD3,500 and the prison term to three years and four months to give the defendant a second chance in life.
Court documents said that the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt that the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and sent one of its agents to pose as a buyer.
“The AND agent got in touch with the defendant and asked him for a small stash of Hashish in return for JD10,” court documents said.
The exchange was done between the two then the law-enforcement agency placed the defendant under surveillance, court papers added.
On December 15, AND officers arrested the defendant and took a sample of his urine, according to court papers.
The Forensic and Laboratories Department’s examination indicated that traces of Hashish, Captagon and Crystal meth were detected in the sample that belonged to the defendant, the court added.
The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate his client on drug trafficking charges”.
The lawyer argued that his client was possessing illegal narcotics for his personal use and, therefore, should benefit from a further reduction in penalty, the court documents stated.
The SSC prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the sentence and the fine imposed on the defendant.
The higher court maintained that the SSC had followed the proper procedures in issuing the sentence against the defendant.
“It was clear to the court that the defendant confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs,” the higher court said.
The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.
