Three handed jail terms for abduction, blackmail in Balqa

AMMAN — The Criminal Court has sentenced three people, including a woman, to prison terms ranging from 20 months to five years for abducting and robbing a man and threatening to expose him in public in Balqa, 35km northwest of the capital, in February 2015.

The two male defendants were each initially sentenced to 10 years imprisonment after being convicted of abducting a 30-year-old man and threatening to circulate naked pictures they took of him over the Internet on February 2, 2015.

However, the Criminal Court decided to reduce the sentence by half, because the victim dropped the charges.

The female defendant initially received three years and four months in prison for inciting the abduction of the victim, who is her half brother.

Her sentence was also reduced by half because the victim dropped the charges against her.

Court papers said the female defendant was living with her daughter at the victim’s home.

“The defendant decided to leave the house to live alone and asked the victim to give her their passports, but he refused,” court papers said.

The woman then asked the two defendants, who were residents of her neighbourhood, to “abduct the victim and threaten him so he would give her the passports”, according to the court.

On the day of the incident, the court maintained, the two defendants lured the victim to a deserted farm, threatening him with a gun and a knife.

“The pair robbed him of his mobiles, wallet and house keys, then filmed him naked from the waist down and threatened to post [the footage] on social media if he filed a complaint,” the court said.

The two defendants, accompanied by the female defendant, then went to the victim’s house and took the passports, the court transcripts said.

When the victim returned home, he informed his siblings and filed a complaint to police, the court added.

The tribunal comprised judges Ramzi Nawayseh, Nael Emoush and Ibrahim Bawarid.

The verdict will automatically be reviewed by the Cassation Court.