SSC upholds 3-year jail term for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a January State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of selling illegal narcotics to a law-enforcement officer in Amman in October 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics (hashish) with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on October 29.

The SSC handed the defendant five years in prison for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics and ordered him to pay JD5,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD3,500 and the prison term to three years and four months in prison to give the defendant a second chance in life.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and sent one of its agents to pose as a buyer.

“The AND agent got in touch with the defendant and asked him for a small stash of illegal drugs in return for JD10,” court documents said.

When the two met, the AND agent made the exchange with the defendant and left, court papers added.

“The law-enforcement agency placed the defendant under surveillance for one week then arrested him while walking in the street without any major incident,” the court maintained.

The arresting officers found a mobile in the defendant’s possession “which included chats about illegal drug dealings”, 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 sentence 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 Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.