Cassation Court upholds over 3-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Cassation of Cassation has upheld a June 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of possessing Captagon pills in Amman in December 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing over 1,200 Captagon pills on December  12.

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) learnt the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and placed him under surveillance.

The law-enforcement agency officers arrested him while walking in the street in an eastern neighbourhood, court documents said.

Upon searching the defendant, court papers said, AND personnel found 65 Captagon pills in his possession.

The officers escorted the defendant to his house where they found an additional 1,158 Captagon pills and a small amount of Hashish, the court added.

The defendant confessed to possessing the illegal narcotics with the aim of selling the pills in the local market, the court transcripts said.

However, the defendant retracted his confessions in court and contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, claiming that “he was subjected to torture and duress by investigating officers”.

The lawyer also 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 with the intent of selling it in the local market,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mahmoud Ebtoush, Majid Azab, Hayel Amr, Mohammad Shreiri and Ibrahim Abu Shamma.