Man jailed for drug possession

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an April State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to one year in prison for possessing five Captagon pills in Karak governorate in January.

On January 11, the court declared the defendant guilty of possessing five Captagon pills and a piece of hashish, with the intent of selling them locally, and handed him three years in prison.

However, the SSC immediately reduced the sentence to one year in prison “because he is young and deserves a second chance in life”, according to court transcripts.

The SSC also ordered the defendant to pay JD1,000 in fines.

Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents were informed that the defendant was in possession of narcotics, which he was intending to use and also to sell, according to court transcripts.

“A force arrested the defendant while he was in the street and found five Captagon pills on him,” court documents said.

Upon searching the defendant’s house, the court added, AND operatives found a piece of hashish hidden in the residence.

Captagon (fenethylline) is a synthetic stimulant similar to amphetamine.

The pills are usually manufactured and transported from neighbouring countries in the north via Jordan to countries on the southern borders, AND officials told The Jordan Times in previous interviews.

PSD officials have said that drug smugglers “target rich countries because one Captagon pill there is worth JD7, while its market value in Jordan is around JD1 per pill”.

The SSC prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the verdict because it was in accordance with the law.

The defendant, through his lawyer, contested the SSC’s ruling, stating that the court “failed to depend on solid evidence” when convicting him and “refused to hear some witnesses that the defendant wanted to present during his trial”.

“The court convicted the defendant on the testimony of a convicted criminal, and this is not allowed by law unless the testimony is supported by other evidence, which is not the case here,” the lawyer argued. 

Nonetheless, the higher court maintained that the SSC had followed the right procedures in the issuance of the sentences against the defendant.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Majid Azab and Hamad Ghzawi.