The former Crown Prince of Jordan has been asked to “stop some movements and activities,” the country’s top general said on Saturday, while other members of the royal family were arrested in a fight believed to have marred a plot. blow against King Abdullah II of the country.
Gender. Yousef Huneiti, the army’s chief of staff, has denied reports that 41-year-old Prince Hamzah bin Hussein – the king’s half-brother – has been arrested along with nearly 20 people taken for “security reasons”.
The prince was asked, however, to stay at his palace in Amman and not to use social media.
Huneti said an investigation is still ongoing and that the results will be made public “in a transparent and clear manner.”
Among those arrested were Sharif Hassan Ben Zaid, a member of the royal family, and US-educated Bassem Awadallah, a longtime confidant of the king, who served as both planning and finance minister.
“No one is above the law, and Jordan’s security and stability are above all,” Huneiti told Petra’s official news agency.
Details of the plot are scarce, but arrests of senior officials and members of the royal family are rare in Jordan, a key US ally between Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
About 3,000 soldiers are stationed at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, an important area for fighting ISIS. The United States provides Jordan with about $ 425 million each year.
Awadallah, who resigned as head of the royal court in 2008, has been a key player in economic reforms.
Jordan’s strong intelligence agency has a pervasive influence in public life, a role that has grown in recent years amid emergency laws created at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Civic groups say these powers violate civil and political rights.
With Post Wires