Cassation Court upholds over 3-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June 2022 State Secu- rity Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug deal- er to over three years in prison after convicting him of possessing ille- gal narcotics in Zarqa in December 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal nar- cotics with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on""December 15.

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 four years in prison 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 agents to pose as a buyer.

“The AND agent got in touch with the defend- ant and asked him for 50 grammes of Crys- tal meth in return for JD30,” court documents said.

When the two met, AND agents immediate- ly arrested the suspect, court papers added. Upon searching the defendant, court papers""said, AND personnel found 90 grammes of Crystal meth on him”.

The defendant con- tested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to impli- cate his client”.

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 sentence against the defendant.

“It was clear to the court that the defend- ant confessed willingly to possessing the ille- gal drugs with the in- tent of selling them in the local market,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassa- tion judges were Mah- moud Ebtoush, Majid Azab, Hayel Amr, Mo- hammad  Shreiri  and Ibrahim Abu Shamma."