Cassation Court upholds over 3-year sentence 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 illegal narcotics in Irbid in December 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on December 3.

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 in prison to give the defendant a second chance in life.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) received a tip that the defendant possessed illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drug in the local market.

The law enforcement agency tasked one of its agents to pose as a buyer, the court added.

"The AND agent got in touch with the defendant and asked him for a small stash of illegal drugs in return for JD5,” court documents said.

The defendant handed the AND agent the illegal narcotics and left, court papers added.

The defendant was placed under surveillance and was arrested a month later, according to court documents.

The defendant was searched and agents found 66 grammes of Hashish and 470 Captagon pills, the court added.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate 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 defendant confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs to sell in the local market,” the higher court said.

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