Court gives drug dealer ‘second chance’

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a December State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to one year in jail for possessing and trafficking illicit drugs in Rusiefeh in August of last year.

The SSC also ordered the defendant to pay JD1,000 in fines.

The defendant was originally sentenced to three years in prison but the SSC decided to immediately reduce the prison term to one year “to give the defendant a second chance in life”.

Court papers said that Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) personnel were informed that the defendant was “a known drug dealer and was in possession of hashish and Captagon pills”.

On August 19, court papers said, AND tasked one of its undercover agents to pose as a buyer, according to court documents.

The two agreed to meet in a secluded area in Ruseifeh, court documents said.

“The defendant sold the undercover agent hashish for JD10 and was immediately arrested,” court documents added.

Upon searching him, AND agents found additional illegal narcotics on him, the court papers said.

The defendant contested the interrogation procedures asking to be declared innocent because “the SSC relied on the testimony of one witness and the SSC prosecutor failed to provide solid evidence to implicate the defendant”.

Nonetheless, the higher court maintained that the SSC followed proper proceedings in the issuance of the sentence against the defendant.

The Court of Cassation bench comprised judges Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi, Yassin Abdullat, Majid Azab and Bassem Mubeidin.