Man jailed for promoting terrorist ideology

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to five years after being convicted of promoting terrorist ideology in Jordan in mid-2015.

The defendant was convicted of promoting Daesh ideology and attempting to recruit individuals to join the terror organisation.

Court documents said the defendant adopted the takfiri ideology in 2015 after monitoring Daesh’s activities on social media.

“The defendant was convinced that Daesh applied the proper Sharia and he decided to convince people to join them by spreading their ideology,” court papers said.

The defendant also decided to join the terror group and started corresponding “with a page on Facebook to join them in Syria but he was arrested before being able to carry out his plans,” according to court documents.

The SSC general prosecutor asked the higher court to uphold the sentence stating that the SSC followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant.

The defendant contested the SSC ruling through his lawyers claiming that he was subjected to “torture and duress in order to confess to something that he did not plot”.

The lawyer also charged that the SSC prosecutor failed to present “any solid evidence that would implicate his client with the charges”.

However, the higher court ruled that the SSC followed the proper procedures and the defendant deserved the verdict he received.

“It was clear that the defendant confessed willingly to his desire to be part of the terror group and the authorities’ investigation procedures were correct and within the law,” the Court of Cassation said.

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