Cassation Court upholds four years prison term for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld an October State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to four years in prison after convicting him of selling illegal narcotics to an undercover agent in Amman in June of last year.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on June 13.

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 JD3,500 and the prison term to four years to give the defendant a second chance in life.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learned the defendant had 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 340 Captagon pills in return for JD220,” court documents said.

When the two met, the defendant handed the AND agent the illegal drugs.

He was immediately arrested, court papers 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”.

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, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi and Mohammad Khashashneh.