Jordanian Prince Hamza fails to comply with arrest warrant and challenges his half-brother King Abdullah II

Jordanian Prince Hamza bin Huséin, accused of conspiring against his half-brother, Abdullah II, King of Jordan, He said on Monday that he would not respect the ban on leaving his home that the Jordanian chief of staff had sent him the day before.

“Of course, I will not respect (the orders of the Chief of Staff, General Youssef Huneiti) when he tells me that I am not allowed to go out, tweet, communicate with people and that I am not allowed to see that my family, ”Prince Hamza said in a telephone conversation whose recording was released.

On Sunday, Jordanian authorities claim to have dismantled a plot to “destabilize” the kingdom in which Prince Hamza bin Huséin, King Abdullah’s half-brother, was involved, and that they arrested several suspects.

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday that the security services “have been following for a long time the activities and movements of Prince Hamza bin Huséin, Cherif Hasan bin Zaid and Basem Awadalá (former king’s adviser) and of other. homeland security and stability ”.

The Jordanian security services “have for a long time followed the activities and movements of Hamzah bin al-Hussein (…) and others aimed at the security and stability of the homeland”.Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said during an officer’s first press conference after the campaign of arrests on Saturday.

According to investigations, the security services recorded “contact with outside parties” to choose the “most appropriate moment to destabilize the security” of Jordan, in what Safadi called an attempt at “sedition”, but without mention that it was an attempted coup. against the monarchy.

So far, “between 14 and 16 years old, with the exception of Basem Awadalla and Hasan bin Zaid, have been detained,” Safadi said, stressing that Prince Hamzah bin Hussein was not.

“There are no arrests of Jordanian military leaders and the military institution is part of the investigations (…). The operation to kill this sedition is over and now we are dealing with it legally.“Said Safadi, while adding that” the investigations are still continuing “.

Safadi explained at the press conference that the prince played an important role in this “operation to destabilize security” and is directly linked to those arrested, as well as to “foreign parties”, whom he did not not developed.

“These investigations resulted in the establishment of links between Basem Awadalla with external parties and the so-called foreign opposition to use all contacts and implement destabilization plans.r and achieve the goals and intentions related to weakening Jordan’s firm stance on some major issues, ”Safadi noted.

He added that the plans of Awadalla, former head of the royal court and Minister of Finance, “coincided with the intense activities of Prince Hamzah during the last period to communicate with figures in the community in order to encourage them to activities that would undermine national security ”. .

For this reason, the Jordanian Chief of Staff, General Yusef al Huneiti, “met Prince Hamzah yesterday (Saturday) to deliver this message and asked him to cease all movements and activities aimed at the security and stability of Jordan.”.

But the prince, according to Safadi, “did not respond and treated this request negatively without worrying about the interests of the state and its people”.

On the other hand, Hamzah himself said in a video sent to the British channel BBC On behalf of his lawyer, a senior military commander, whom he did not identify, came to his home on Saturday and He told him that “he could not communicate with people because he had criticized the government in the meetings he attended.”

“I am not responsible for the government failures, corruption and incompetence that have been common in our government structure over the past 15 to 20 years and have worsened,” the prince condemned in the video.

According to Safadi, King Abdullah II decided “speak directly with Prince Hamzah to have the matter discussed within the family, to deter him from those activities which attack and exploit the security of Jordan and the Jordanians“.

Safadi said Prince Hamzah, “a few minutes after the Chief of Staff met him … he sent an audio recording of the meeting to Basem Awadalla, and attached it to another audio recording. from him to try to make the situation worse, and after that, Awadalla booked a ticket to Jordan. “

In fact, some people from the prince’s circle “have transmitted messages to certain parties, including those who claim to be the outside opposition to use them against the state”, declared the Deputy Prime Minister, without giving more details on this “external opposition”.

He also criticized the “two messages recorded in Arabic and English” which were sent by the prince “in another attempt to distort the facts and to arouse national and foreign sympathy”.

Prince Hamzah is the eldest son of King Hussein and Queen Noor, whom he married in 1978 after divorcing two previous wives and widower of a third.

When Abdullah was declared king upon Hussein’s death in February 1999, Hamzah was appointed crown prince, but in November 2004 that decision was overturned and his son, Abdullah II, was appointed.

With information from AFP and EFE

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