Jordan’s government has accused King Abdullah’s half-brother Prince Hamzah bin Hussein of liaising with foreign parties over a plot to destabilise the country.
Ayman Safadi, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister, said at a press conference that authorities had intercepted communications between Prince Hamzah, a former crown prince, and foreign parties.
“These were efforts that threatened Jordan’s security and stability and these efforts were foiled,” Safadi said. The security services have asked for those involved in the alleged plot to be referred to the state security court, he added.
Safadi spoke a day after Prince Hamzah was placed under house arrest, in a rare public clash between top members of the long-ruling family.
The unprecedented incident has raised concerns about stability in a country seen as a key western ally in a volatile region and drawn an outpouring of support for the king.
In a videotaped statement from house arrest, the prince accused the country’s leadership of corruption and incompetence.
Safadi said intelligence agents had been observing the plotters for some time and raised their concerns with the king. He said the prince was asked to “stop all these activities and movements that threaten Jordan and its stability”, but he refused.
Safadi did not identify the foreign countries allegedly involved in the plot. But he said a longtime senior official who has business ties in several Gulf Arab states, Bassem Awadallah, was involved and had been planning on leaving the country. He also said Awadallah had been trying to secure a place for Prince Hamzah’s wife to flee.
The US, Saudi Arabia and Arab countries across the Middle East issued strong statements in favour of King Abdullah.
Strategic importance
The swift show of support underscored Jordan’s strategic importance as an island of relative stability in the turbulent region. While the harsh criticism from a popular member of the ruling family could lend support to growing complaints about the kingdom’s poor governance, the king’s tough reaction also illustrated the limits to which he will accept public dissent.
Early on Sunday, Prince Hamzah’s mother, Queen Noor, expressed sympathy for “innocent victims”.
“Praying that truth and justice will prevail for all the innocent victims of this wicked slander. God bless and keep them safe,” she tweeted.
Prince Hamzah was stripped of the crown prince title in 2004 by King Abdullah, five years after the death of their father, the late King Hussein. The prince is a popular figure in Jordan, widely seen as pious and modest.
In a videotaped statement leaked to the BBC, Prince Hamzah bin Hussein said he was visited early on Saturday by the country’s military chief and told, “I was not allowed to go out, to communicate with people or to meet with them.”
He said his security detail was removed, and his phone and internet service had been cut. He said he was speaking over satellite internet but expected that service to be cut as well.
The BBC said it received the statement from Hamzah’s lawyer. In the statement, Hamzah said he had been informed he was being punished for taking part in meetings in which the king had been criticised, though he was not accused of being a direct critic.
He said he told the army chief: “I am not the person responsible for the breakdown in governance, for the corruption and for the incompetence that has been prevalent in our governing structure for the last 15 to 20 years and has been getting worse by the year. I am not responsible for the lack of faith that people have in their institutions. They are responsible.”
The country’s top general had earlier denied that Hamzah – a former crown prince stripped of the title in 2004 – was arrested or under house arrest, even as authorities announced the arrests of former senior officials close to the ruling monarchy.
‘Stability’
Hamzah was asked to “stop some movements and activities that are being used to target Jordan’s security and stability”, said Gen Yousef Huneiti, the army chief of staff.
He said an investigation was ongoing and its results would be made public “in a transparent and clear form”.
“No one is above the law and Jordan’s security and stability are above all,” he told the official Petra news agency.
Petra had earlier reported that two senior officials who formerly worked for the palace, along with other suspects, had been arrested for “security reasons”, without providing further details.
The Petra report said Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the royal family, and Bassem Ibrahim Awadallah, a former head of the royal court, were detained. – Guardian and AP