Cassation Court upholds over 4-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an August 2023 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over four years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Amman in April of last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing over one kilogramme of Hashish while in the process of selling the illicit drugs to a buyer near the 7th Circle area on April 18.

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 JD4,500 and the prison term to four years and six months 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 placed him under surveillance.

“The AND agents arrested the defendant while in the process of selling the illicit drugs to a buyer in return for JD1,750 and arrested him,” court documents said.

Upon searching the defendant’s home, the law-enforcement agency officers found over 2,000 Captagon pills, an additional amount of Hashish and other illicit drugs that “the defendant confessed that he possessed to sell in the local market,” court papers 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 Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.