Man sentenced to 3 months in prison for drug possession

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a December State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to three months in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Amman in July 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing illegal narcotics (hashish) on July 21 in an apartment in Abdoun for personal use.

The SSC handed the defendant a one-year prison term for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics.

The court also ordered the defendant to pay JD1,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the prison term to three months to give the defendant “a second chance in life”.

The court also reduced the fines against the defendant to JD200.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learned that the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and raided his apartment near the Seventh Circle.

“The AND agents found stashes of illegal narcotics and other equipment used to smoke the illegal narcotics and he was arrested,” the court documents said.

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

“My client is innocent and at no stage during the interrogation process did he confess to illegal drug possession or use,” the lawyer argued.

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.

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