Cassation Court Upholds over 1-year sentence for juvenile drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a juvenile to over one year in prison after convicting him of selling illegal narcotic narcotics to an undercover agent.

The court declared the defendant guilty of selling Hashish to an undercover officer on February 14, 2022.

The SSC handed the defendant a three-year prison term at the juvenile correctional centre and ordered him to pay JD3,500 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the prison term to 18 months and ordered him to pay JD1,000 in fines "to give the defendant a second chance in life".

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and sent one of its officers to pose as a buyer.

“The defendant handed the law enforcement officer a small stash of hashish in return for JD10,” according to court documents.

The defendant was placed under surveillance for a couple of months and was arrested in June, court transcripts said.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that his client should benefit from a reduction in penalty “because he is a juvenile and is unaware of what he's doing”.

The lawyer also argued that the defendant is taking care of his mother who is sick with cancer.

Meanwhile, 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 sentences against the defendant.

“It was clear to the court that the defendant confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs and deserves the punishment for this offence,” the higher court said.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Qassem Dughmi, Hammad Ghzawi and Mohammad Khashashneh.