Four men jailed for abducting, blackmailing businessman

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a May Criminal Court ruling sentencing four men to six years each in prison after convicting them of abducting and blackmailing a businessman with his nude photos in Amman in June 2016.

The court declared the defendants guilty of taking photos of the victim while nude on June 19 after abducting him and tying him up, then blackmailing him with the images, and handed them the maximum punishment.

The defendants published one of his photos nude with a shoe in his mouth on Facebook when the victim refused to pay them money, court papers said.

Court papers said the four defendants lured the victim, who worked in a construction business, to a meeting point, with the intent of robbing him.

When the victim arrived to the meeting area, the four defendants drew weapons and tied him up after undressing him by force, court papers said.

"The defendants took various photos of the victim with a shoe stuffed in his mouth while naked," court papers said.

The defendants also "stole JD40 from the defendant as well as his two mobile phones, and left", court documents maintained. 

"The defendants then started blackmailing the victim, saying they would publish the photos on social media if he did not pay them money. When he refused, they published one of the photos they took when they abducted him," said court papers.

The Criminal Court’s attorney general had asked the higher court to uphold the sentence, stating that the court had abided by the proper legal procedures when sentencing the defendant.

The defendants, through their lawyers, contested the ruling, arguing that they should be declared innocent since "the prosecution failed to provide any evidence to implicate the defendants with the charge".

"The Criminal Court relied on weak evidence and failed to allow our clients to submit defence evidence that would acquit them of the charges," the higher court's transcripts quoted the defendants' lawyers as saying.

However, the higher court ruled that the Criminal Court had followed the proper procedures and the defendants deserved the verdict they had received.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Bassim Mubeidin, Hammad Ghzawi and Yassin Abdullat.