Wiz Khalifa's nine-month cannabis sentence annulled for retrial
On 3 November 2026 the Constanta Court of Appeal annulled American rapper Wiz Khalifa's final nine-month prison sentence for smoking cannabis on stage at the Beach Please festival in Costinesti and cancelled the prison warrant. Prosecutors' DIICOT appeal will be retried on 12 November 2026, with steps for Khalifa to join by videoconference.
🇷🇴 Costinești, Constanța County · Romania
·
Charged
1
Cannabis
18.53 g
Prison
9 months
On Thursday 18 December 2025 the Constanța Court of Appeal upheld prosecutors’ appeal and sentenced
Thomaz Cameron Jibril, the American rapper Wiz Khalifa, to nine months in prison for possessing
risk drugs for personal use.[1][2][3]The court’s final decision replaced an earlier tribunal fine of
3,600 lei and ordered the term served in detention.[1][2][4]
Prosecutors said that on 13 July 2024, around 23:55, Jibril possessed 18.53 grams of cannabis and
smoked a cannabis cigarette on stage during the Beach Please festival in Costinești.[1][5]Police had
briefly detained him after the concert in 2024 before releasing him pending trial.[2]
Romanian police told News.ro he was placed under national search and that an international warrant
request would follow.[1]BBC reporting noted he was sentenced in absentia while continuing to
perform abroad, and quoted criminologists who doubted the United States would extradite him.[2]Judges said the public consumption at a youth festival normalised illegal drug use.[2]
The charge was personal possession, not trafficking, under Law 143/2000.[1][2]
On 3 November the Constanta Court of Appeal set aside the decision that had convicted American rapper Wiz Khalifa in Romania for smoking cannabis on the stage of the Beach, Please! festival at Costinesti.[3]The judges admitted the artist’s contestation in annulment against penal decision No. 1222/P of 18 December 2025 in case No. 7777/118/2024.[3][6][5][4]With that ruling the prison-execution warrant issued by the Constanta Tribunal also falls.[3][7][5][4]The DIICOT prosecutors’ appeal will be heard again on 12 November 2026 at 16:00, and the court ordered steps for Wiz Khalifa to take part by videoconference.[3][6][4]State-advanced court costs remain on him.[3]
On 3 November the Bucharest Court of Appeal admitted Khalifa’s contestation in annulment and set aside the Constanța Court of Appeal’s penal decision of 18 December 2025.[5]At Khalifa’s request, the High Court of Cassation and Justice transferred the annulment file from the Constanța Court of Appeal to the Bucharest Court of Appeal for judgment.[5]
The appeal retrial will take place at the Bucharest Court of Appeal.[4]
Photos and video
Wiz Khalifa performing; the image ran with BBC coverage of the Constanța appeal sentence. Source: BBC News (Getty Images)
The rapper was sentenced in absentia and commentators said extradition from the United States was unlikely; no custody date has been reported.
BBC and Romanian outlets quoted 18 grams at the scene while prosecutors' minutes cited 18.53 grams possessed plus a joint smoked on stage.
The April 2025 tribunal fine of 3,600 lei was overturned entirely in favour of custody; confiscation details from the first judgment were not repeated in the appeal coverage opened here.
The DIICOT appeal retrial scheduled for 12 November 2026 had not yet occurred at publication, so its outcome is not reported here.
Only one source for this annulment step could be opened.
The page carries an illustration whose caption does not establish what it depicts, so no media entry is listed.
Sources disagree on which court issued the 3 November annulment: SpotMedia attributes it to the Bucharest Court of Appeal after the High Court transferred file No. 462/36/2026 to Bucharest, while Mediafax, Observator and the existing report attribute it to the Constanta Court of Appeal.
The SpotMedia page carries only a portrait credited to Instagram/wizkhalifa, which does not depict the festival, seizure or court, so no media entry is listed.
HotNews attributes the 3 November annulment to the Bucharest Court of Appeal after transfer, while the existing report text attributes it to the Constanta Court of Appeal; HotNews corroborates the SpotMedia Bucharest version noted in the report's open questions.
The page's only image shows Wiz Khalifa at a May festival in California and does not depict the Costinesti festival, seizure or court, so no media entry is listed.
The article's mention of a 2014 Texas airport arrest for half a gram of marijuana is a separate event left out here.
The Agerpres page carries eight gallery images captioned only as gallery images, which do not establish what they depict, so no media entry is listed.
Agerpres dates the on-stage detention to 14 July 2024, while the existing report records the possession as 13 July 2024 around 23:55; the report's timing is retained.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in AGERPRES: On 3 November the Bucharest Court of Appeal admitted Khalifa's contestation in annulment and set aside the Constanța Court of Appeal's penal decision of 18 December 2025.
Romania's Constanța appeal court sentenced DZ to seven years for bringing 3 g of cannabis and four MDMA tablets into the country. On 3 November 2026 the EU Court of Justice held that the severity gap with Dutch penalties alone cannot justify refusing his surrender.
The Iasi Court of Appeal finally sentenced three Vaslui men to 4 years, 6 years and 3 years and 6 months for trafficking cannabis alongside MDMA, cathinones and amphetamine. Police seized 6.41 grams of cannabis plus MDMA tablets and confiscated 1,000 lei from cannabis sales.
DIICOT Cluj and organised-crime police detained two men aged 49 and 51 on 22 October 2026 after documenting an outdoor cannabis grow in Florești meant for sale. Searches seized 20 plants up to three metres tall plus packaged cannabis; a judge ordered 30-day preventive arrest for both.
Romanian border police and DIICOT prosecutors detained a 21-year-old man on the evening of 12 October 2026 as he entered Romania at Nădlac on an international passenger bus from Spain with more than seven kilograms of cannabis intended for sale. Prosecutors ordered his detention on 13 October and asked an Arad court for 30 days of preventive arrest.