Man gets jail term for firing shots at cops during chase

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a July Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 36-year-old water tanker driver to six years and eight months in prison after convicting him of attempting to murder police officers in Amman in June 2012.

The Criminal Court declared the defendant guilty of shooting at police officers while being chased by a police patrol and handed him the maximum sentence. 

Court papers stated, on the day of the incident, the defendant was riding with three other men in a wanted vehicle.

A police patrol spotted the vehicle and attempted to stop it but it sped off, court documents added.

"The police patrol chased the defendant who started firing at the police vehicle," court documents said.

One police officer was injured in the head as a result but his injury was “artificial”, according to court documents.  

The Criminal Court’s attorney general had asked the higher court to uphold the ruling against the defendant.

The defendant contested the Criminal Court's ruling claiming that he was innocent and was not the individual who fired at police.

The defendant also argued that he was supporting a family and "having to spend time in prison is causing harm to my family". 

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court proceedings were accurate and correct and that the defendant was given the appropriate punishment.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Yassin Abdullat, Majid Azab, Saeed Mugheid and Bassem Mubeidin.