Jordan: Prince coordinated botched coup attempt with former official

Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh revealed on Monday that Prince Hamzah Bin Hussein had been in contact for more than a year with a former chief of the Royal Court regarding the eventually botched recent coup attempt, Ammon news agency has reported.

Briefing tribal leaders about the detentions related to the attempted coup, Al-Khasawneh said that there had been suspicious movements and visits carried out by the prince. “The former chief of the Royal Court, Bassem Awadallah, was in contact with Prince Hamzah and there had been coordination between them for more than a year,” he pointed out.

The prime minister also claimed that there had been incitement against King Abdullah II, stressing that this violated the Constitution of the Hashemite Kingdom. He added that the Public Prosecutor had started his investigations and that all suspects would be turned over to the prosecutor except the prince, whose case will be dealt with by the royal family.

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On 3 April, the Jordanian security services detained Awadallah and at least a dozen senior officials. Prince Hamzah was placed under house arrest.

Last Wednesday, King Abdullah declared the end of the “sedition” in the Kingdom and announced that Hamzah had pledged allegiance to the monarch and to the Constitution.