Plot to destabilize kingdom thwarted, top minister says

JERUSALEM — A senior Jordanian official has accused the country’s former crown prince of conspiring with foreign elements in a “malicious plot” that threatened national security.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters Sunday that the plot had been foiled at the “zero hour.”

“Then it was clear they moved from design and planning into action,” Safadi said. He said as many as 16 people are under arrest, in addition to two senior officials close to Prince Hamzah.

Safadi spoke a day after Hamzah, a half brother of King Abdullah II, was placed under house arrest, in a rare public clash between top members of the longruling family. The unprecedented incident has raised concerns about stability in a country seen as a key Western ally in a volatile region and drawn an outpouring of support for Abdullah.

In a videotaped statement from house arrest, Hamzah accused the country’s leadership of corruption and incompetence.

Safadi, who also holds the title of deputy prime minister, said intelligence agents had been observing the plotters for some time and raised their concerns with the king. He said Hamzah was asked to “stop all these activities and movements that threaten Jordan and its stability,” but he refused.

Safadi did not identify the foreign countries allegedly involved in the plot. But he said a longtime senior official who has business ties in several Gulf Arab states, Bassem Ibrahim Awadallah, was involved and had been planning on leaving the country. He also said Awadallah had been trying to secure a plane for Hamzah’s wife to flee. Awadallah and a second senior official, Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, are among the suspects in custody.

“There is a joint coordination between Awadallah and the prince but I will not go into the details,” Safadi said.

Asked whether Hamzah could face charges, Safadi said that for the time being there were “amicable” attempts to deal with him, but added that “the kingdom’s stability and security transcends” everything.

The U.S., Saudi Arabia and Arab countries across the Middle East issued strong statements in favor of Abdullah. The swift show of support underscored Jordan’s strategic importance as an island of relative stability in the turbulent region. While the harsh criticism from a popular member of the ruling family could lend support to growing complaints about the kingdom’s poor governance, the king’s tough reaction also illustrated the limits to which he will accept public dissent.

Hamzah is a former crown prince who was stripped of that title by Abdullah in 2004, five years after becoming king following the death of their father, the late King Hussein. Hamzah is a popular figure in Jordan, widely seen as pious and modest.