Cassation Court upholds over 3-year sentence for attempted drug smuggling into correctional facility

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation has upheld a June 2022 State Security Court (SSC) ruling, sentencing a man to over three years in prison after convicting him of attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics to an inmate in Tafileh in  2021.

The court declared the defendant guilty of obtaining illegal narcotics with the intent of smuggling them while visiting an inmate at Tafileh Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre (TCRC).

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.

However, the court decided to reduce the fine to JD3,500 and the prison term to three years and four months in prison to give the defendant a second chance in life.

Court documents said the Anti-Narcotics Department (AND) learnt the defendant was in possession of illegal narcotics and was planning to smuggle it while on a visit to TCRC.

When the defendant arrived, the correctional officers searched him and found a small stash of illegal narcotics attached to three fake banknotes, court documents said.

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

The lawyer argued that “there were legal errors in the investigation process”.

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 attempting to smuggle the illegal drugs while on a visit to the correctional facility,” the higher court said.

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