3 men jailed for smuggling weapons to West Bank

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a March State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing three men to seven years in prison each after convicting them of smuggling weapons to the West Bank in December 2019 and early 2020.

The court declared the defendants guilty of smuggling the weapons to the West Bank and possessing illegal arms in December 2019.

The defendants, who were all arrested in June 2020, were first handed a 12-year prison term each for the charges.

However, the court decided to reduce their prison terms to seven years in prison each “because they have families and to give them a second chance in life”.

Court documents said the defendants, who were Irbid residents, decided to smuggle illegal weapons to the West Bank “so that it would be used illegally”.

 “The defendants purchased 12 guns for JD17,000 and managed to smuggle it to the West Bank in late December,” the court documents said.

In early 2020, the defendants purchased “21 guns for JD32,000,” the court papers added.

However, the weapons were seized by “the Israeli side”, the court transcripts added.

The following month, the court maintained, the defendants purchased “live ammunitions, including gunpowder and bullets for JD18,000”.

However, the defendants were arrested by security agencies before being able to smuggle the live ammunition to the West Bank, the court added.  

The defendants contested the SSC’s rulings through their lawyer, who argued that the SSC prosecution office failed to “provide solid evidence to implicate their clients”.

Meanwhile, the SSC prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the sentence and the fine imposed on the defendants.

The higher court maintained that the SSC had followed the proper procedures in issuing the sentences against the defendants.

“It was clear to the court that the defendants confessed willingly to possessing the illegal arms and to smuggling weapons to a neighbouring country,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Nayef Samarat, Qassem Dughmi and Ibrahim Abu Shamma.