Cassation Court upholder over 5-year sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a November 2023 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to five years in prison after convicting him of selling illegal narcotics to an undercover police officer in July 2022.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drugs to an undercover agent on July 15.

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.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of 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 over three kilogrammes of Hashish in return for JD3,900,” court documents said.

When the two met, AND agents immediately arrested the suspect, court papers added.

The defendant was found in possession of 3.55 kilogrammes of Hashish on him, the court 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 to sell in the local market,” the higher court said.

The Court of Cassation judges were Yassin Abdullat, Nayef Samarat, Mohammad Khashashneh, Qassem Dughmi and Hammad Ghzawi.