Cassation Court upholds over 3 years in prison for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of possessing illicit narcotics in Amman in March 2022.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on March 4.

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 papers said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) placed the defendant under surveillance because he was known to be “a drug dealer”.

On the day of his arrest, the law enforcement agency officers followed the defendant and pulled him over while driving on the Queen Alia International Airport Highway, the court said.

Upon searching the defendant, the court stated, officers found 36 Captagon pills and small staches of a variety of illegal narcotics.

The defendant confessed to officers that he possessed the illegal narcotics with the intent of selling in the local market, according to court papers.

The defendant also confessed to consuming hashish and other illegal narcotics; the court said.

However, the defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate his client.”

The lawyer argued that the court relied on "contradictory" statements by the prosecution witnesses.

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 defendant confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.