Court in Jordan jails ex-minister and royal family member over alleged plot

A Jordanian security court has sentenced a former top aide to King Abdullah and a minor royal to 15 years in prison after finding them guilty of attempting to destabilise the western-backed kingdom.

Bassem Awadallah, a former Jordanian finance minister who rose through the political ranks to become the king’s chief of staff in 2015, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a distant relative of the royal family, were accused in April of being part of an alleged sedition plot.

The pair were alleged to have conspired with Prince Hamzah, King Abdullah’s half brother and former crown prince, who was put under house arrest in an extraordinary saga that rocked Jordan.

Prince Hamzah, who denied the allegations, did not face trial as the royal court sought to deal with him within the family and forced him to sign a pledge of allegiance to the monarch.

The alleged plot sent shockwaves across the region as Jordanian authorities accused Prince Hamzah of liaising with foreign and domestic parties who were involved in activities that “directly affected the security and stability of the country”. It also thrust into the spotlight the festering sibling rivalry between King Abdullah and Prince Hamzah.

Prince Hamzah, who was a favourite of the late King Hussein, is perceived to have long harboured ambitions to ascend to the crown and had publicly criticised the government over alleged mismanagement and corruption. He had also courted support among powerful tribes, which are the bedrock of the state, in the years after his dismissal as crown prince in 2014.

Awadallah, an adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Zaid, a little-known royal, were among at least 18 people arrested in connection with the alleged plot. The others were released. It is unclear if Prince Hamzah is still under house arrest.

Awadallah, who holds Jordanian and Saudi citizenship, and Zaid denied the allegations. Their lawyers told news agencies that they planned to appeal against the verdict, which was delivered at a closed-door trial.

The court rejected defence requests to call witnesses, including Prince Hamzah. Before announcing the sentence, Lieutenant Colonel Muafak Masaed, a military judge, said the defendants “held views that are against the political system and the monarchy and sought to create chaos and sedition in Jordanian society”.

Jordanian analysts said the entire episode has been embarrassing for one of the Arab world’s most respected royal dynasties. “It’s the first time in our history that we have faced such a crisis within the royal family,” said Oraib Rantawi, director of the Amman-based Al Quds Center for Political Studies.

The allegations of sedition came at a time when Jordan is facing mounting social and economic pressures as the resource-poor nation grapples with a struggling economy and rising debts. This has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which has shut the tourism sector, a vital source of jobs and foreign currency earnings.

The saga had “opened the door for a new phase in Jordan”, said Amer al-Sabaileh, a Jordanian analyst. “For the first time, the royal family issues are part of the public debate,” he said. “It’s a debate Jordanians never thought of, or were part of.”