Sentences upheld for three who tried to kill police officers

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a June 2016 Criminal Court rulings sentencing three men to 11 years in prison after convicting them of attempting to murder police officers during a raid at a house in an Amman suburb in April 2012. 

The Criminal Court had found the men guilty of the attempted premeditated murder of several police officers who raided their hideout in an attempt to arrest them in the Ashrafieh suburb on April 12, 2012.  They were handed the maximum penalty.

Court papers said that on the day of the incident, police received a tip off that the three men, who were wanted on suspicion of several crimes, were hiding in a house in Ashrafieh.

A force of 12 police officers went to the house to arrest the men, but was met with “fierce resistance” when they arrived, court papers said.

“The defendants fired dozens of rounds at the arresting force, from a machinegun and several pistols,” the court said.

One of the defendants threw two gas cylinders towards the police officers" and the other defendants fired at the cylinders in an attempt to detonate them and kill the officers,” according to court documents.

The police officers hid behind a wall, “and the cylinders did not explode”, the court verdict added.

The men were eventually arrested by the police without any major incident, court transcripts said.  

The Cassation Court, which issued its ruling a few months ago, ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling falls within the law, that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was satisfactory

The Court of Cassation comprised of former president of the Court of Cassation Judge Hisham Tell and judges Basel Abu Anzeh, Mohammad Ibrahim, Mohammad Tarawneh and Bassem Mubeidin.