Man sentenced to over 1 year in prison for drug possession

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over one year in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Amman in January of last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining 1,950 Captagon pills on January 15 with the intent of selling the drugs in the local market.

The SSC handed the defendant a one-year and four months prison term for the offence of possessing illegal narcotics.

The court also ordered the defendant to pay JD1,500 in fines.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of narcotics and raided his home.

“The AND agents searched the house and found the illegal drugs hidden in one of the rooms,” 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 with regard to selling the drugs”.

The defence lawyer argued that “his client possessed the pills for personal use and, therefore, should get a very lenient sentence”.

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.

In addition, the higher court said in response to the lawyer’s argument that “the seized amount of pills was around 1,900 which is very high and an indication that it was intended to be sold in the local market”. 

The Court of Cassation judges presiding were Mohammad Ibrahim, Majid Azab, Hayel Amr, Fawzi Nahar and Ibrahim Abu Shamma.