Cassation Court upholds 4-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July 2023 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to four years in prison after convicting him of selling illegal drugs to an undercover agent for JD5.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining Hashish with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent in Amman on February 24.

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

However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD4,000 and the prison term to four years to give the defendant a second chance in life.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt 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 a small stash of Hashish in return for JD5,” court documents said.

When the two met, they made the exchange and the AND agents left.

The defendant was arrested on April 7, the court added.

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

The lawyer argued that his client possessed the illegal narcotics for his personal use.

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 were Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.