Man faces 8 years of prison for plotting terrorist attacks

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July State Security Court ruling sentencing a man to eight years in prison after convicting him of attempting to join terrorist groups and plotting attacks on religious establishments and liquor stores in Jordan in 2017.

The court declared the defendant, who is a supporter of an extremist group, guilty of threatening to conduct terrorist activities against a church in Abdali and a liquor store in Sweileh and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant adopted takfiri thoughts in 2016 after reading material written by extremist religious figures.

"The defendant believed that the Jordanian government did not apply the proper Sharia [Islamic law] and decided to attack churches and liquor stores," court transcripts said.

The defendant also decided to join terrorist groups in Syria and “contacted some fighters in Syria to travel there to fight alongside them", court papers said.

However, the defendant was arrested on January 31, 2018 before being able to carry out any of his alleged plans, the court documents said.

The defendant, through his lawyer, contested the verdict, arguing that the SSC had failed to present any solid evidence that could implicate him.

The lawyer also argued that the SSC relied on weak evidence and only the defendant’s confession when issuing its verdict, according to court documents.

The lawyer contested the court’s proceedings as well, arguing that the SSC “disregarded the fact that the defendant suffered from psychosis and had been receiving treatment since 2014”.

Meanwhile, the SSC's attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the ruling, stating that the court had abided by the proper legal procedures when sentencing the defendant.

The higher court ruled that the SSC had followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant and that he deserved the verdict he had received. 

“The defendant was referred to the National Institute of Psychiatric Medicine for mental evaluation and the physicians determined that he was sane and did not suffer from any mental issues,” the Court of Cassation ruled.

The higher court also ruled that the interrogation proceedings by the SSC prosecution were accurate and fell within the law.

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