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Today, Monday, the Jordanian State Security Court handed down a 15-year prison sentence for Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, the former envoy of King Abdullah II to Saudi Arabia, as well as the former head of the royal court, Basem Awadallah, in the so-called “sedition” affair.
Bin Zaid and Awadallah, arrested by the Jordanian authorities on April 3, were found guilty of “inciting opposition to the political regime existing in the kingdom and to the person of King Abdullah II” and “of committing crimes. acts endangering the security of society and the security of the kingdom and causing sedition. “
Both men denied the charges against them and their lawyer confirmed that they would appeal the court’s decision within 30 days.
Who is Sharif Hassan bin Zaid?
Despite the lack of information available on Bin Zaid, he is a relative of the Jordanian royal family and a close friend of Prince Hamza Bin Al Hussein and Basem Awadallah. During the sentencing hearing, the presiding judge declared that Awadallah and Sharif Hassan have “had a friendly relationship since 2001, and the latter has a kinship and friendship relationship with Prince Hamza bin. Al Hussein “.
Bin Zaid holds Saudi nationality in addition to his Jordanian nationality and previously served as King Abdullah II’s envoy to Saudi Arabia.
Sharif bin Zaid is the brother of Captain Sharif Ali bin Zaid, who was killed in 2010 while participating in Jordanian armed forces missions in Afghanistan.
Muwaffaq Al-Masaeed, president of the tribunal and military judge, said earlier last month that the goal of the project sought by Awadallah and Bin Zaid is “to translate their anti-incitement and antagonistic ideas into practical reality, and to create the chaos, conflict and division within Jordanian society and spread hate speech towards the regime.
Context
Jordanian Prime Minister Bishr Al-Khasawneh spoke in his parliamentary briefing of Bin Zaid as one of the supervisors of the Hashemite family, stating that he “organized contacts in the outskirts of society and members of the clans. to pledge allegiance to Prince Hamzah, along with Awad Allah, and that they exploited Prince Hamzah’s ambitions and illusions, and worked to convince him of the possibility of providing external, political and financial support to present themselves as an alternative to King Abdullah II.
During one of the sessions of parliament, Al-Khasawneh mentioned that Prince Hamzah held several meetings in which he criticized the state’s policies, “taking advantage of his social position to undermine confidence in his institutions” .
The first session of the trial was held on June 21, during which the two men denied the charges against them.
An official announcement in April implicated Prince Hamzah; The very popular, in “Sinful ploys aimed at destabilizing the security and stability of Jordan”, shocked the Jordanian street.
But Prince Hamzah later confirmed that he would remain “loyal” to King Abdullah II and his heir, Prince Hussein.
A few days later, King Abdullah and Prince Hamzah appeared together at the celebrations for the centenary of the founding of the Kingdom of Jordan.
King Abdullah had appointed Prince Hamzah crown prince in 1999 at the request of his late father, King Hussein, but recanted and named his son Hussein crown prince in 2009.
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