Man sentenced to 5 years for disseminating terrorist ideology

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to five years in prison for spreading terrorist ideology through social media in Jordan in mid-2015.

The defendant was convicted of promoting Daesh ideology to gain more sympathisers and supporters through social media and was handed the maximum punishment.

Court documents said the defendant monitored the Daesh terror group’s activities on social media when they were fighting in Syria and Iraq.

 “The defendant was convinced that Daesh applied the proper Sharia and he decided to spread its ideology using the Internet and Facebook as well as other social media platforms until his arrest in late 2018,” court papers said.

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 SCC did not submit any evidence that he used social media or the Internet to spread Daesh ideology”.

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

"My client did not confess to the charges levelled against him and was denied legal representation when he was first arrested," the lawyer said.

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 that the defendant deserved the verdict he had 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 higher court added that the defence "did not present any solid evidence or witnesses to support its allegations that the defendant was innocent of the charges".

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