Man receives 12-year prison term for drug possession

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a January State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to 12 years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Amman in August 2018.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing illegal pills with the intent of selling them locally on August 6, and handed him a 15-year prison term.

However, the SSC immediately reduced the sentence to 12 years in prison “because he is young and deserves a second chance in life”, according to court transcripts.

The SCC also ordered the defendant to pay JD12,000 in fines.

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

“A task force monitored the defendant’s movement and stopped him to search his vehicle,” court documents said.

Upon searching the vehicle, the court added, AND operatives found 10,000 Captagon pills packed in 10 bags and hidden inside it.

The defendant was arrested in July 2018 and sent to the SSC for trial, the court papers added.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling, charging that the court failed to examine the investigation procedures and that “the questioning of the defendant was not conducted in accordance with the law”.

Nonetheless, the higher court ruled that the SSC followed the right procedures in the issuance of the sentence against the defendant.

“The DNA that was found on the bags that had the Captagon pills hid inside it belonged to the defendant,” the higher court ruled.

Therefore, the higher court maintained the investigation procedures were accurate, and the defendant had received the appropriate punishment.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding over the case were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat and Bassem Mubeidin.