Drug dealer sentenced to 3 years in prison

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a September 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to three years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in April of last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining several kinds of illicit drugs on January 21 with the intent of selling them in the local market.

The SSC handed the defendant a three-year prison term for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics and ordered him to pay JD3,000 in fines.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) received a tip-off that the defendant, along with another defendant who did not appeal his verdict, were in possession of illegal narcotics.

On April 24, the court added, an AND patrol unit pulled over the defendant’s vehicle.

Upon searching his car, law-enforcement officers found “1,993 Captagon pills as well as small stashes of crystal meth and hashish”, according to the court transcripts.

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

“My client is also young and deserves leniency in sentencing,” the lawyer argued.

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 sentences 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, Hammad Ghzawi, Mohammad Khashashneh and Qassem Dughmi.