Court upholds sentence in Mafraq drug bust

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a woman to 10 years in prison after convicting her of possessing illegal narcotics in Mafraq Governorate in April 2018.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing 250,500 Captagon pills, which she hid in her kitchen for her two brothers who intended to sell them locally, and handed her a 15-year prison term.

However, the SSC immediately reduced the sentence to 10 years in prison “because she was young and deserved a second chance in life”, according to court transcripts. The SSC also ordered the defendant to pay JD10,000 in fines.

Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents were informed that the defendant had stashed illegal drugs in her house in Mafraq, according to court transcripts.

“A force monitored the defendant’s home, then raided it and found the illegal narcotics stashed in the cupboards of the kitchen,” court documents said.

AND operatives found 55 bags containing thousands of Captagon pills, according to court documents.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling, charging that she “never confessed to possessing the illegal narcotics and the SSC prosecution failed to provide evidence to prove that the Captagon pills belonged to the defendant”.

Nonetheless, the higher court sustained that the SSC followed the right procedures in issuing the sentence.

The Court of Cassation judges comprised of Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Saeed Mugheid and Majid Azab.