A Libyan man had his 15-year-jail term and Lm15,000 fine converted to 10 years and Lm10,000 after the Court of Criminal Appeal cleared him of conspiring to deal in heroin and importing heroin and confirmed the part of the judgement in which he was found guilty of trafficking in cannabis.

In October 2005, following a trial by jury, Mahmud Ali Amber, 41, was found guilty of conspiring to import heroin, importing heroin and trafficking in cannabis in January 2001.

However, the Court of Criminal Appeal, presided over by Chief Justice Vincent de Gaetano, Mr Justice Joseph Micallef and Mr Justice David Scicluna, varied the judgement handed down by the Criminal Court and also the verdict returned by the jurors.

The Court ruled that Amber could not be found guilty of conspiring to deal in heroin and importing heroin because the only evidence against him in this case was the testimony of an accomplice. This testimony was not enough by law for the jurors to find Amber guilty because it was not corroborated by circumstantial evidence as requested by law.

The Court of Criminal Appeal therefore cleared Amber of these charges and as a result converted the 15-year jail term and Lm15,000 fine to 10 years in jail and a Lm10,000 fine.