AMMAN — The Cassation Court upheld a September 2023 Criminal Court decision to sentence a man to seven years in prison after convicting him of consensual sexual activities with a minor in Amman in March 2023.

 

The Criminal Court handed the defendant a seven-year prison term after convicting him of engaging in sexual activities with a 17-year-old female minor three times in March.

 

Court documents said the defendant and the victim developed a relationship few months before the incident.

 

The minor decided to escape from her family’s home and stay with him in a rented apartment, the court maintained.

 

The two engaged in “consensual sexual activities three times,” according to court papers.

 

The matter was exposed and the defendant was arrested, the court stated.

 

The victim was referred to the Family Protection Department for further examination and questioning, the court maintained.

 

The defendant had contested the Criminal Court’s ruling through his lawyer, claiming that the “victim gave contradictory statements regarding the incident”.

 

Meanwhile, the Criminal Court’s attorney general asked the higher court to uphold the ruling.

 

The Cassation Court ruled that the Criminal Court’s judgment fell within the law, that the proceedings were proper and that the sentence given was satisfactory.

 

“The defendant confessed to engaging in sexual activities with the minor and deserves the punishment he received,” the higher court ruled.

 

The Cassation Court tribunal comprised judges Mahmoud Ebtoush, Majid Rafayaeh, Rizeq Abulfool, Qassem Dughmi and Fawzi Nahar.