Man handed 1-year-prison term for drug possession

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a January State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to one year in prison for possessing illegal narcotics in Amman in August 2019.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing four sticks of hashish and 85 pills of illegal narcotics with the intent of selling them locally, and handed him the maximum sentence.

The SSC also ordered the defendant to pay JD1,000 in fines.

Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) agents were informed that the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics, with the intention of using it and selling it, according to court transcripts.

“A security force arrested the defendant while he was driving his vehicle and found the illegal narcotics,” court documents said.

The SSC prosecution office asked the higher court to uphold the verdict because it was in accordance with the law.

The defendant, through his lawyer, contested the SSC’s ruling, stating that the court “failed to depend on solid evidence” when convicting him and that “the investigation procedures were not proper”.

Nonetheless, the higher court maintained that the SSC had followed the right procedures in the issuance of the sentences against the defendant.

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Fawzi Nahar, Hayel Amr, Fawzi Nahar and Mohammad Khashashneh.