Drug dealer gets one-year prison term

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to one year in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Irbid in January of last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing various amounts of illegal narcotics at his home in Irbid on January 7.

The SSC handed the defendant a one-year prison term for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics and ordered him to pay JD1,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD500 because the defendant confessed to the crime and to give him “a second chance in life”.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learned the defendant and other men, who were also convicted in the same case but did not appeal their verdicts, were in possession of illegal narcotics.

The AND agent drafted a plan to raid the defendant’s home and on January 7 they headed to their home.

“The AND agents were able to arrest the defendants and found various kinds of illegal narcotics stocked in their home,” according to court papers.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate his client”.

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 sentences against the defendant.

“It was clear to the court that the defendant confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Fawzi Nahar Hayel Amr, Majid Azab and Nayef Samarat.