Man handed over 3 years in prison for narcotics possession

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Sahab in November 2020.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics (hashish) with the intention of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on November 29.

The SSC handed the defendant five years in prison for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics, and ordered him to pay JD 5,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD3,500 and the prison sentence to three years and four months to give the defendant “a second chance in life”.

Court documents said that the defendant contacted an individual to sell him illegal narcotics.

“The person was an undercover agent working for the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND),” according to the court papers.

When the two met in front of the defendant’s house, the court papers maintained, “he handed the AND agent a small bag containing the illicit drugs”.

The defendant was immediately arrested and referred to the SSC prosecution office for questioning, according to the court documents.

“The defendant confessed to being a drug dealer in front of the SSC, and said that he usually handles more than one illicit drug during his illegal operations,” the 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”.

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 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 without being subjected to any form of duress by investigators,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Hayel Amr, Fawzi Nahar and Ibrahim Abu Shamma.