Two men jailed for plotting subversive acts

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing two men to prison terms of four and seven years for plotting subversive acts in the Kingdom in 2020.

The defendants were also convicted of promoting Daesh ideology through social media in an attempt to gain followers from Jordan for the group.

The pair were also convicted of attempting to join terrorist groups and were handed the maximum punishment.

The primary defendant was handed a seven-year prison term, while the second was given four years for his role in the plot.

Court documents said the defendants adopted takfiri ideology in 2017 along with a third defendant — who did not appeal his verdict — after monitoring Daesh’s activities on social media.

“The defendants were convinced that Daesh applied the proper Sharia and decided to spread its ideology using social media platforms from 2017 onwards,” the court papers said.

The three attempted to join terrorist groups to fight in Syria, but were unable to do it, the court stated.

Instead, the court maintained, the three turned their focus back home and “plotted to attack churches”, according to the court documents.

The three defendants were arrested by security agencies while in the process of “purchasing a weapon in December 2020”, the court papers stated.

The SSC prosecutor general asked the higher court to uphold the sentences, stating the SSC had followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendants.

The defendants contested the SSC ruling through their lawyers, claiming that “the SSC prosecution office depended on weak and contradictory statements from the witnesses”.

The lawyers also charged that the SSC prosecutor “failed to present any other solid evidence that would implicate their clients with the charges”.

One of the lawyers further claimed that “his client was subjected to torture and duress during interrogation”.

However, the higher court ruled that the SSC had followed the proper procedures and that the defendants deserved the verdict they had received.

“It was clear that the defendants confessed willingly to the terror plots, and the authorities’ investigation procedures were correct and within the law,” the Court of Cassation ruled.