A Jordanian security court on Sunday charged a former confidant of King Abdullah II and a distant cousin of the monarch with attempted sedition.
The charges against former Royal Court chief Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, who is a junior royal, came more than two months after they were arrested in what the authorities described as an attempt to destabilise the kingdom.
Jordan's official news agency said the two men were charged with inciting opposition to the existing political order and “performing actions that expose the safety of society and its security to danger and cause sedition”.
The allegations have shaken the political foundations of Jordan, a century-old Hashemite monarchy built on the loyalty of the country's tribes who are concentrated its central and southern regions.
The episode also marked an escalation of a royal rift that was largely kept under wraps since King Hussein, father of the current king, died in 1999 after ruling Jordan for almost five decades.
The authorities said the two men, as well as 16 others who were arrested in April and later released, were linked with Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, a half-brother of King Abdullah and a former crown prince.
Prince Hamzah publicly criticised the running of the country at the beginning of April, when the authorities asked him to curb his movements and contacts in the kingdom.
Jordanian TV broadcast footage of the prince with King Abdullah and other members of the royal family at an event to mark Jordan’s centenary on April 11.
He has not been seen in public since.
The prince has "close links" with Mr Awadallah and Sharif Hasan, the official Al Rai newspaper said on Sunday.
It cited documents containing the charges from the Security Court, which is dominated by the military.
According to the documents cited by the paper, Mr Awadallah and Mr Hasan helped the prince “gain international support to back up Prince Hamzah’s goal to reach power”.
In reference to the prince's visits to tribes in outlying areas, the paper said the two men encouraged him to “intensify incitement meetings with some segments of the society”.
Members of the tribes make up the bulk of the security forces and are a major component of the bureaucracy.
It is an arrangement that dates to Emir Abdullah, who founded with the aid of the British, in the early 1920s, what became Jordan in the 1940s.
In return for a stake in the system, most of the major tribes pledged loyalty to the Hashemites, who came from what is now Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah’s great great grandfather is Sharif Hussein bin Ali of Makkah.
Al Rai said Prince Hamzah used a major incident in the central town of Salt in March to try to get public opinion behind him.
Seven coronavirus patients at a public hospital in Salt died after the hospital ran out of oxygen, prompting anti-government demonstrations across the kingdom.
The authorities cracked down on the protests, arresting hundreds of people.
The newspaper said Mr Awadallah sent a message to Mr Hasan after the incident, saying: "It is the time of H."
Mr Awadallah and Mr Hasan are the only two people arrested for suspected links with Prince Hamzah who are not members of tribes. The 16 other men detained were released at the end of April.
The tribal underpinning's of Jordan's system were further shaken earlier this month when a parliamentarian from the Ajarmeh tribe just south of Amman publicly made unprecedented threats against the king and called on his flowerers to disobey the monarch.
Parliament, which has little political power in Jordan but can discipline its members, removed the deputy, Osama Al Ajarmeh, on June 6.
The king abrogated parliament a day later.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
Normcore explained
Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.
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Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Stats at a glance:
Cost: 1.05 billion pounds (Dh 4.8 billion)
Number in service: 6
Complement 191 (space for up to 285)
Top speed: over 32 knots
Range: Over 7,000 nautical miles
Length 152.4 m
Displacement: 8,700 tonnes
Beam: 21.2 m
Draught: 7.4 m
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
AIR
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MATCH INFO
FA Cup final
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
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Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
