Cassation Court upholds 3-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — Court of Cassation has upheld an April State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to three years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Zarqa in October 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining a variety of illegal narcotics with the intent of selling them in the local market on October 19.

The SSC sentenced the defendant three years in prison for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics and ordered him a JD3,000 fine.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) received information that the defendant possessed some stashes of illegal narcotics that he intended to sell in the local market. “The law-enforcement agency placed the defendant under surveillance for a few weeks before arresting him.”

AND agents found a variety of illegal drugs in his possession and in his house, including Cocaine, Hashish and Captagon pills, court papers added. The AND officers also found JD1,245 in cash which the court stated was “the money the defendant earned from the drug dealing.”

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 lawyer charged that his client was “subjected to duress to confess to a crime that he did not commit.”

Meanwhile, 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 had 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,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.