Jordan fears for prince not seen since last month’s ‘coup’
King Abdullah II faces calls to reveal welfare of relative who was detained along with 18 of his associates
A MONTH after Jordan’s ruler announced an apparent coup had been “nipped in the bud”, King Abdullah II felt comfortable enough to make his first trip abroad this week, travelling to Brussels for meetings with Nato and European Union leaders.
But while the royal, famed for his love of travel, was away, Jordanians at home were more focused on his younger half-brother in an online campaign asking “Where is Prince Hamzah?”
The prince, 41, has not been seen in public since a televised appearance alongside the king to mark Jordan’s centenary on April 11, apparently choreographed to demonstrate the mending of the royal rift that unfolded days earlier.
“He’s in a dire spot, some part of me is concerned for his well-being,” a close friend of the prince told The Sunday Telegraph, adding that he had not been online in nearly a month.
“Hamzah and his family will ultimately never see the light of day again and that’s the great fear,” he said.
For some Jordan watchers however, the palace intrigue between two British-educated Sandhurst graduates could have even greater significance, with the spectre of public discontent in a kingdom that bills itself as a bastion of stability in a rough neighbourhood.
A month on from the supposed plot there are lingering questions. On April 3, the Arab monarchy was shaken when the government announced it had foiled a plot led by a member of the royal family and involving foreign powers.
Jordanian authorities arrested 18 courtiers and associates of the prince, who made an announcement of his own, releasing a video in which he said he had been placed under house arrest. Prince Hamzah denied any plot but accused Jordan’s rulers of corruption and incompetence.
“I am not the person responsible for the breakdown in governance, the corruption and for the incompetence that has been prevalent in our governing structure for the last 15 to 20 years and has been getting worse... And I am not responsible for the lack of faith people have in their institutions.
“It has reached a point where no one is able to speak or express opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened.”
In recent recordings made in his home he said he was being “threatened” by powerful members of the royal family, adding that they were trying to “scare” him into silence.
Officials produced little evidence of a plot but on April 7 the 59-year-old king announced on television that sedition had been “nipped in the bud”.
“Sedition came from within and without our one house,” he said, adding that “I decided to deal with the matter of Prince Hamzah within the Hashemite family, Hamzah today is with his family, at his palace, in my care”.
In the following days 16 of those arrested were released, but two remain in detention. Bassem Awadallah, the former head of the Jordanian royal court and the man authorities allege masterminded the plot, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the Hashemite royal family and King Abdullah II’s former envoy to Saudi Arabia.
The two have appointed high profile lawyers – a state security court judge and a cousin of the current prime minister – and Hamzah could be called to testify, posing a potential headache for the state. If the case proceeds to trial “it will also make problems with a number of neighbouring countries”, Taher AlMasri, a former prime minister, told Axios website, hinting at Saudi Arabia.
Beyond the palace intrigue, the story also illustrates that Jordan’s image of stability obscures a worrying trend of increasing authoritarianism and public dissatisfaction, said Adam Coogle, a Human Rights Watch researcher based in Amman.
“The allegations of the current leadership is that Hamzah was trying to exploit public discontent,” he said. “But the discontent, nobody questions that that is real.”
Jordan’s stability is of such importance that massive amounts of aid are given to prop up the state, $1.5 billion (£1.1billion) from the US last year alone. Despite this, it remains a resource-poor country in perennial debt, unable to provide jobs for its young population.
King Abdullah has responded to the protests that regularly shake the country with cabinet reshuffles and by regularly dismissing the prime minister.
Prince Hamzah in contrast has cultivated his Jordanian roots by meeting with tribal sheikhs and listening to the grievances of Jordanians, many of whom see in him a resemblance to his father, the popular late King Hussein.