Cassation Court upholds 12-year sentence in narcotics case

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation upheld an April State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing a man to 12 years in prison after convicting him of possessing illegal narcotics in Zarqa in March 2017.

The court declared the defendant guilty of possessing 206,000 Captagon pills with the intent of selling them inside the Kingdom and handed him a 15-year prison term.

However, the SSC decided to reduce the sentence to 12 years in prison “to give the defendant a second chance in life”. The SCC also ordered the defendant to pay JD10,000 in fines.

The court also declared a second man, who was standing trial on the same charges, innocent after establishing that “he was at the defendant’s house to fix his refrigerator and had nothing to do with the illegal substances”.

Court papers said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) received a tip that the defendant had stashed illegal Captagon pills in his house with the intent of selling them.

On March 13, AND agents raided the defendant’s house in the Dleil area and found the illegal pills hidden under his bed.

“AND agents arrested the second man who was also in the house with the defendant,” the court documents added.

The defendant confessed to possessing the illegal narcotics at his house, the court documents added.

The higher court ruled that the SSC followed the proper procedures when sentencing the defendant and that he deserved the punishment he received.

The Court of Cassation judges comprised Mohammad Ibrahim, Saeed Mugheid, Yassin Abdullat, Majid Azab and Hamad Ghzawi.