Cassation Court upholds 6-year prison sentence for drug dealer

AMMAN — Court of Cassation has upheld an August 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a drug dealer to six years in prison after convicting him of attempting to sell one kilogramme of Hashish to an undercover agent in Amman in February 2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing illegal narcotics with the intent of selling the drugs in the local market on February 7.

The SSC handed the defendant a punishment of six years in prison and ordered him to pay a JD5,000 fine.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of a large quantity of illegal narcotics and placed him under surveillance. “The law-enforcement agency sent one of its agents to pose as a buyer.”

The undercover officer asked the defendant to “provide him with one kilogramme of Hashish in return for JD2,500”, according to court documents. When the two met, “the defendant was immediately arrested”.

Court papers stated that the officers searched the defendant and found 1.2 kilogrammes of Hashish on him.

The defendant contested the SSC’s ruling through his lawyer, who argued that the court “did not provide solid evidence to implicate his client of illicit drug trafficking”.

The lawyer also argued that his client “possessed the illicit drugs for personal use and he had no intention to sell any illicit drugs in the local market”, leading the defence to charge him for illegal narcotics possession. 

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 sentences against the defendant.

“It was clear to the court that the defendant confessed willingly to possessing the illegal drugs to sell it in the local market,” the higher court said.

Therefore, the higher court maintained that the defendant deserves the punishment he received.

The Cassation Court bench comprised judges Mahmoud Ebtoush, Hammad Ghzawi, Qassem Dughmi, Mohammad Khashashneh and Nayef Samarat.