Twenty excellent personalities arrested in Jordan for a suspected “conspiracy” against King Abdallah II. Among these there would be – as claimed by the Washington Post – also the half-brother of the monarch Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, but Amman has officially denied it while confirming his involvement.
A situation whose contours are not yet completely clear based on the first information coming from the Hashemite kingdom.
The arrests were motivated with “security reasons” after “careful monitoring” of the latter. The “well-informed” source cited by the Petra agency added that an investigation has been opened to shed light on the whole affair defined as a “threat to the country’s stability”.
Tra gli arrestati Sharif Hassan Bin Zaid e Basem Ibrahim Awadallah
Among the excellent names who ended up under arrest – as confirmed by the government agency – include Sharif Hassan Bin Zaid and Basem Ibrahim Awadallah, two senior officials linked to the Royal House.
The first – the media recalled – was the Jordanian ambassador to Saudi Arabia and also linked to Prince Ali Ben Hussein, brother of the king. The latter was King Abdullah’s long-time confidant and also finance minister after serving as head of the Royal Household office.
Awadallah – the media pointed out – was a driving force behind the economic reforms undertaken in the kingdom and has long faced the resistance of the old guard to changes.The most important name, however, is certainly that of Hamzah bin Hussein. Petra denied both house arrest and detention itself.
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It is therefore not yet known in what capacity he was called into question nor what his current status is. However, the Jordanian chief of staff, General Yousef al Huneiti, said that Hamzah was ordered to refrain from travel and other activities that could be exploited to destabilize the Hashemite kingdom. “No one – continued the general – is above the law and Jordan’s security and stability take precedence over any consideration”.