Cassation Court upholds over 3-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an August 2023 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to over three years in prison after convicting him of selling illegitimate drugs to a police officer in Amman in June 2023.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent in Abdullah Ghosheh street on June 19.

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 JD3,400 and the prison term to three years and four months in prison 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 stash of manufactured drugs in return for JD120,” court documents said.

When the two met, AND agents immediately arrested the suspect, court papers added.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that “his client possessed the illegal narcotics for personal use and was not a drug dealer as the prosecutor stated”.

The lawyer also said his client should receive a reduced sentence because he “was married and had a family to support”.

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.

The Court of Cassation judges were Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.