Cassation Court upholds over 3 years' sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — Court of Cassation has upheld an October 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to over three years in prison after convicting him of selling illegal narcotics in Amman in November 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of selling two Captagon pills for JD4 to an undercover agent on November 3.

The SSC handed the defendant five-years prison term for the charge of possessing illegal narcotics and ordered him to pay JD5,000 in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD3,500 and the prison term to three years and four months “to give the defendant a second chance in life”.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt 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 two Captagon pills in return for JD4,” court documents said.

When the two met, the defendant handed the AND agent the illegal narcotics, court papers added.

The law-enforcement agency placed the defendant under surveillance for few months and then arrested him, the court maintained.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate her 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 sentence 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 Mahmoud Ebtoush, Fawzi Nahar, Mohammad Shreiri, Ibrahim Abu Shamma and Majid Azab.