10 years in jail for Daesh plotter against GID

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a February State Security Court ruling sentencing a man to 10 years in prison after convicting him of  attempting to join terrorist groups and plotting attacks on security agencies in September 2017 in Zarqa.

The court declared the defendant, who is a supporter of the Daesh extremist group, guilty of threatening to conduct terrorist activities against the General Intelligence Department (GID) and handed him the maximum sentence.

Court papers said the defendant opened a Facebook page almost three years ago and used other social media tools to “spread Daesh ideologies and urged his friends to join the extremist group”.

The defendant also decided to attack the GID building and the officers inside it since the premises are located near his house, according to the court papers.

“The defendant believed that the Daesh group follows the proper Islamic Sharia and was going to establish an Islamic state, while the GID did not abide by the Islamic Sharia,” the court documents stated.

“He plotted to attack the GID premises with machine guns to leave the highest number of causalities but was arrested in mid-September last year before carrying out any of his plans,” according to court transcripts. 

The higher court ruled that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant and he deserved the verdict he received. 

The Court of Cassation judges were Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Bassim Mubeidin and Saeed Mugheid.