Man handed 9-year prison term for plotting subversive acts against security agencies

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to nine years in prison after convicting him of plotting subversive acts against security agencies in Zarqa in late February 2020.

The court declared the defendant, a supporter of the Daesh terrorist group, also guilty of spreading terrorist ideologies through social media and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant, along with another man who did not appeal his verdict, were following Daesh’s activities and decided to adopt its ideology in 2018.

"The defendants decided to target the General Intelligence Department (GID) headquarters in Zarqa and a GID patrol vehicle," the court transcripts said.

The defendants visited the area surrounding the GID building to examine the entrances and exits, the court papers said.

“They also used social media to spread the material that the terror group used to broadcast to their friends and relatives,” court papers added.

However, GID agents arrested the defendants before they could carry out any of their plots, the court papers said.

The defendant, who appealed his verdict, through his lawyer, claimed that the SSC failed to present “any solid evidence” that could implicate him.

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

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

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