Man sentenced to 4 years in prison for promoting terrorist ideology

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to four years in prison for spreading terrorist ideology through social media in Jordan.

The defendant was also convicted of "plotting acts of incitement against the system" and of promoting Daesh ideology to gain more sympathisers through social media.  

He was handed the maximum punishment by the SSC.

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

“The defendant was convinced of Daesh ideology, and at the same time was constantly attacking the system in Jordan,” court papers said.

For that reason, the court papers added, he opened a Facebook page with his own name and photo.

“He used the social media page to spread the terror group’s publications and news,” according to the court papers.

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

The defendant contested the SSC ruling through his lawyer, claiming that “the SSC did not submit any evidence that he used social media to spread Daesh ideology”.

“The prosecution failed to present any technical evidence to prove the charges against my client,” the lawyer argued.

The lawyer further argued that the sentence was “harsh” and that his client “should benefit from a reduction in penalty, because he is young and deserves a second chance in life”.

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

“The authorities’ investigation procedures were correct and within the law and the defendant deserves the punishment he received,” the Court of Cassation said.

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Fawzi Nahar, Hayel Amr and Qassem Dughmi.