Cassation Court upholds man’s 20-year prison sentence for robbery, murder

AMMAN — The Cassation Court has upheld a January Criminal Court decision to sentence a man to 20 years in prison after convicting him of robbing and murdering a man in Hiteen refugee camp in January 2015.

The Criminal Court declared the convicted man guilty of pushing the victim over a high cliff and killing him on January 4 following a heated argument.

The tribunal also amended the original charges brought against him by the Criminal Court prosecutor, from premeditated murder to manslaughter “because the defendant did not plot the murder”.

Court papers said that the victim and the convicted man were friends and on the day of the incident the two, along with a minor, had an argument over “a bad hashish cigarette that the victim allegedly gave to the minor”.

“The minor informed the defendant that he went to hospital for treatment after smoking the bad hashish cigarette, which was given to him by the victim,” court papers said.

Based on the minor’s claims, the defendant attacked the victim, took his mobile, then “pushed him over a cliff [25 metres high], where he fell to his death,” according to court papers.

The two fled the scene and the following day the convicted man sold the phone for JD40, court transcripts added.

The convicted man had contested the ruling, claiming that “he was subjected to torture and confessed to a crime that was committed by the minor”.

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court general attorney also asked the higher court to uphold the original verdict.

The Cassation Court, which issued its ruling late last month, ruled that the Criminal Court’s ruling falls within the law, that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was satisfactory.

“The defendant confessed willingly in front of the Criminal Court prosecutor and did not provide any evidence to support his torture claims,” the higher court stated in its 13-page verdict.

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised President of the Court of Cassation Hisham Tel, and judges Basil Abu Anzeh, Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zu’bi and Mohammad Tarawneh.