University student gets one-year jail term for selling drugs

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a university student to one year in prison after convicting him of selling illegal narcotics to an undercover Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agent in Aqaba in January 2020.

The court declared the defendant guilty of selling illegal narcotics to an AND agent in return for JD30 on January 10 and handed him a three-year prison term and imposed a JD1,500 fine.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to one year and a JD1,000 because “the defendant is young and deserves a second chance in life”.

Court documents said the anti-narcotics department learned that 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 illegal narcotics in return for JD30 and the young man agreed to sell him the drugs,” court documents said.

When the two met, AND agents immediately arrested the suspect, court papers added.

Upon searching the defendant, court papers said, AND personnel found "some Captagon pills, hashish cigarettes and other kinds of illegal narcotics on him". 

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 sentences 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 Mohammad Ibrahim, Ahmad Qatawneh, Saeed Mugheid, Majid Azab and Nayef Samarat.