10-year prison term upheld in drug possession case

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November 2019 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to 10 years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Aqaba last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of buying and storing 121,500 Captagon pills in his house and handed him a 15-year prison term.

However, the SSC decided to reduce the sentence to 10 years in prison to “give the defendant a second chance in life”.

The court also ordered the defendant to pay JD10,000 in fines.

Two other men, a Syrian national who sold the defendant the illegal stash in return for JD2,000, and a Saudi national, who was supposed to buy the illegal narcotics, were tried in absentia and sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to pay JD20,000 in fines each.

Court documents said the three defendants decided to make quick cash by selling and dealing with illegal narcotics.

“The defendant bought the pills form the Syrian man in return for JD2,500 and stashed them in his house in Aqaba,” court papers said.

However, the defendant was arrested by Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents in November 2018 after receiving a tip-off that he had illegal narcotics in his possession.

Upon searching, court papers said, the AND personnel found "Captagon pills hidden in a large bag in his house". 

The defendant confessed willingly to “buying the illegal narcotics and hiding the pills in his house to sell them at a later stage to the Saudi defendant”, court documents said.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate his client”.

“My client was subjected to torture and duress to confess to a crime that he did not commit,” the court papers said.

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 and storing the illegal drugs in his home,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Hammad Ghzawi and Bassem Mubeidin.