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published photo, AFP
Basem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid pleaded guilty at the start of the trial, which took place in secret.
A Jordanian court has charged the former head of the royal court and a relative of King Abdullah with inciting sedition against the monarchy.
The court sentenced Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, who denied the charges against them, to 15 years in prison.
The two men were arrested in early April when former Crown Prince Hamzah was placed under house arrest for a “plot to destabilize the nation”.
Prince Hamzah, the king’s half-brother, has not been charged.
The King of Jordan said he decided to defend his case “within” the royal family after publicly pledging loyalty.
The court said the evidence supporting the charges against the two men was confirmed and that they intended to harm the monarchy by pushing the former heir to the throne, Prince Hamzah, to replace the king. .
The accusations shocked Jordan as they exposed differences within the ruling Hashemite family, which has been a beacon of stability in a turbulent region in recent years.
Awadallah, a former finance minister and the driving force behind Jordan’s liberal economic reforms, has been accused of inciting to undermine the political system and of committing acts that threaten public safety and sow discord.
But he pleaded not guilty and said he had nothing to do with the case.
Prince Hamzah escaped sanctions last April after pledging allegiance to the king and defusing a crisis that led to his house arrest.
The decision comes three weeks after the first session of the trial.
The court rejected the defense’s request to call more than 20 witnesses, including Prince Hamzah himself.
Prince Hamzah, 41, is the eldest son of King Hussein and his beloved wife, Queen Noor.
He was appointed crown prince in 1999, when his father passed away and Abdullah ascended to the throne. But King Abdullah stripped Hamza of his post in 2004.
On April 3, the prince released two videos in which he claimed to have been placed under house arrest. A senior official is said to have said he criticized the king at some of the meetings he attended.
But he denied any wrongdoing and insisted he was only speaking against corruption and mismanagement.
But the Deputy Prime Minister claimed to have had contacts with “certain foreign entities” and sought to mobilize “clan leaders against the government”.
On April 5, Prince Hamzah signed a letter in which he pledged to be “committed to the constitution”.
King Abdullah later announced that his half-brother was “with his family in his palace, under my care”.
18 people were arrested on the grounds of an alleged conspiracy. All were released without charge at the end of April, except Awadallah and Sharif Hassan.
How did the trial go?
The two men were brought to trial last month in the State Security Court for “inciting against the political system” and “carrying out acts threatening society and its security and inciting sedition”.
published photo, Reuters
Prince Hamzah announced his accession to the country’s constitution
An indictment says they conspired with Prince Hamzah. The indictment said he was “determined to achieve his personal ambition to rule.”
The trial was held behind closed doors and ended after just six sessions. The defense attorney’s request to call Prince Hamzah as a witness in the case was denied.
The Associated Press on Sunday quoted a US-based lawyer appointed by Awadallah’s family as saying the trial was “completely unfair” and that Awadallah had been tortured in custody.
But the prosecution denied these accusations.
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