Jordan’s king sends message on dissent
Jordanian authorities said Sunday they foiled a “malicious plot” by a former crown prince to destabilize the kingdom with foreign support, contradicting the senior royal’s claims that he was being punished for speaking out against corruption and incompetence.
The U.S. and Arab governments quickly sided with King Abdullah II.
Domestically, Prince Hamzah’s unprecedented criticism of the ruling class could lend support to growing complaints about poor governance and human rights abuses in Jordan.
At the same time, the king’s tough reaction — placing his popular halfbrother under house arrest and accusing him of serious crimes — illustrated the limits on public dissent he is willing to tolerate.
“The kingdom’s stability and security transcend everything,” said Ayman Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister, as he accused Hamzah and two senior Jordanian officials of conspiring with foreign elements to destabilize the kingdom. “The plot is totally contained.”
Yet Safadi’s news conference Sunday did little to address questions surrounding the weekend’s dramatic evens. In the night from Saturday to Sunday, Hamzah had announced in a secretly recorded video leaked to the media that he had been placed under house arrest.
Hamzah’s mother, Noor, weighed in on Twitter, writing Sunday: “Praying
that truth and justice will prevail for all the innocent victims of this wicked slander. God bless and keep them safe.”
Abdullah and Hamzah are sons of the late King Hussein, who remains a beloved figure two decades after his death. Upon ascending
to the throne in 1999, Abdullah named Hamzah as crown prince, only to revoke the title five years later.
In his video, Hamzah, 41, accused Jordan’s ruling class of corruption and stifling freedom of expression.