Jordanian Prince Hamza, accused of conspiracy, said he will not comply with an arrest warrant

Jordanian Prince Hamza bin Huséin, accused of having conspired against his half-brother, Abdullah II, King of Jordan, affirmed this Monday in a tweet that he will not abide by the prohibition to leave his home transmitted to him the day before by the Jordanian chief of staff.

“Of course I will not abide by (the orders of the chief of staff, General Youssef Huneiti) when he tells me that I am not authorized to go out, tweet, communicate with people and that I am only allowed to see my family,” said the Prince Hamza in a telephone conversation, the recording of which was released.

On Sunday, Jordanian authorities claimed they dismantled a plot to “destabilize” the kingdom, in which Prince Hamza bin Huséin, King Abdullah’s half-brother, was implicated, and that they arrested several suspects.

Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday that the security services “had followed for a long period the activities and movements of Prince Hamza bin Huséin, Cherif Hasan ben Zaid and Basem Awadalá (former adviser to the king) and others. people against the security and stability of the homeland”.

The Jordanian security services “followed for a long time the activities and movements of Hamzah bin al-Hussein and others who were aimed at the security and stability of the homeland.”Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said at an officer’s first press conference after Saturday’s campaign of arrests.

According to the investigations, the security services registered “contact with external parties” to choose the “most appropriate moment to destabilize the security” of Jordan, in what Safadi called an attempt of “sedition”, but without mentioning that it was an attempted coup against the monarchy.

So far, “between 14 and 16, apart from Basem Awadalla and Hasan bin Zaid,” have been detained, Safadi said, stressing that Prince Hamzah bin Hussein has not been.

“There are no arrests of Jordanian military leaders and the military institution is part of the investigations. The operation to kill this sedition is finished and now we are in the stage of treating it legally.” Safadi said, although he added that “investigations are still continuing.”

Safadi explained at the press conference that the prince has played an important role in this “operation to destabilize security” and is directly linked with those arrested, as well as with “foreign parties”, which he did not elaborate.

“These investigations resulted in the linkage between Basem Awadalla with external parties and the so-called foreign opposition to use all contacts and implement plans to destabilizer and achieve goals and intentions related to weakening Jordan’s firm position on some major issues,” Safadi noted.

He added that the plans of Awadalla, former head of the royal court and finance minister, “coincided with the intense activities of Prince Hamzah during the last period to communicate with community figures in order to incite them towards activities that would undermine national security”.

For this reason, the Jordanian Chief of Staff, General Yusef al Huneiti, “met yesterday (Saturday) with Prince Hamzah to deliver this message and asked him to cease all movements and activities aimed at the security and stability of Jordan”.

But the prince, according to Safadi, “did not respond and treated this request negatively without caring for the interests of the state and its people.”

On the other hand, Hamzah himself said in a video sent to the British chain BBC On the part of his lawyer that a high military commander, whom he did not identify, came to his house on Saturday and told him that “he could not communicate with the people because he had criticized the government in the meetings in which he was present.”

“I am not responsible for the failures in the Government, the corruption and the incompetence that has been frequent in our Government structure in the last 15 to 20 years and has gotten worse,” the prince said in the video.

According to Safadi, King Abdullah II has decided “speak directly with Prince Hamzah so that the issue would be discussed within the family, to dissuade him from these activities that attack and exploit the security of Jordan and Jordanians”.

Safadi said that Prince Hamzah, “a few minutes after the Chief of Staff met with him … he sent an audio recording of the meeting to Basem Awadalla, and attached it to another audio recording of him in a attempt to aggravate the situation, and after that, Awadalla booked a ticket out of Jordan. “

In fact, some people from the prince’s circle “passed messages to some parties, including those who call themselves the external opposition to use them against the state”, said the deputy prime minister, without giving more details about this “external opposition.”

He also criticized the “two messages recorded in Arabic and English” that were sent by the prince “in another attempt to distort the facts and arouse national and foreign sympathy.”

Prince Hamzah is the eldest son of King Hussein and Queen Noor, whom he married in 1978 after having divorced two previous wives and widowed a third.

When Abdullah was declared king upon Hussein’s death in February 1999, Hamzah was appointed crown prince, but in November 2004, that decision was reversed and his son, Abdullah II, was named.