Ten-year sentence upheld for Daesh supporter who plotted terror attack on embassies

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to ten years in prison after convicting him of plotting subversive acts against the Iranian, Israeli and Russian embassies in the Kingdom in early 2017.

The court also declared the defendant guilty of manufacturing explosives and supporting the ideologies of the Daesh terror group and handed him a ten-year prison term.

Court papers said the defendant was fond of Daesh and had convinced another defendant, who did not appeal his ten-year verdict, to conduct terror acts against the Iranian, Israeli and Russian embassies in Amman.

“The defendant used social media, including Facebook and Whatsapp, to share Daesh’s videos and to encourage people to join the terror group,” court documents said.

The defendant also purchased “chemical substances from a shop in Amman to manufacture explosives to use in the attacks against the embassies”, according to court documents.

The defendant, with the help of the second defendant, used a shop in an Amman neighbourhood to build the explosive device by using a cooking pan to place the explosive substances inside it, the court transcripts added.

However, the two defendants were arrested by security agents before carrying out their reported plans, the court added.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling charging that “he never confessed to any of the acts that the prosecution has listed in his charge sheet and had no previous criminal record”. 

“The defendant also claimed that the SSC prosecution failed to present any solid evidence that would implicate him in the case,” the court transcripts said.

However, the higher court disregarded his claims, stating that he confessed in front of the SSC prosecution and the SSC’s ruling was correct.

The Court of Cassation judges comprised Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Hamad Ghzawi and Majid Azab.