Jordanian justice on Tuesday banned the publication of any information concerning the case of attempted sedition of Prince Hamza which has shaken public opinion since this weekend. On Monday evening, King Abdullah II and Prince Hamza reconciled through family mediation.
In a statement, the attorney general of Amman, Hassan al-Abdallat, announced this ban, which concerns all media, in particular audiovisual media, and justified it by concern for the respect of the investigation.
“For the sake of respecting the secrecy of the investigation of the security services concerning Prince Hamza and others, it was decided to prohibit the publication of anything relating to this investigation at this stage,” he said. he writes in a statement broadcast by official Jordanian television.
And to specify that this publication ban concerns “all audiovisual media and social networks, as well as images or video clips related to this subject, under penalty of criminal prosecution”.
Prince Hamza, 41, born from the last marriage of former King Hussein, and who had been appointed crown prince a time before the current King Abdullah II named his son in 2004, is accused of attempting to instigate a coup against his brother.
Jordanian intelligence services monitored his communications and relatives for a long time before accusing him of wanting to undermine the country’s “security” and “stability”, according to Aymane Safadi, the Jordanian prime minister.
The latter assured that a foreign country was involved in the case, without saying which country it was and to specify that there was a timetable of action to carry out this aborted project.
King Abdullah II, for his part, wanted to deal with the matter as a family in order to avoid sowing trouble in the minds of citizens. He had the chief of staff of the army sent to the prince’s palace to ask him not to go out and to avoid communications until the end of the investigation.
In a recording posted on Twitter, Prince Hamza criticized the move and said he had no intention of complying with orders. He also denied the charges of conspiracy to harm the security and stability of the kingdom and said he was under house arrest in his palace in Amman.
Monday evening, in a new gesture of reconciliation, King Abdullah II sought mediation within the Hashemite family by entrusting this operation to his uncle “Prince Hassan (who was Crown Prince of Jordan from 1965 to 1999, until upon accession to the throne of King Abdullah II).
This new initiative has borne fruit since at the end of the interview, Prince Hamza published a signed letter in front of the members of the royal family. “I will remain faithful to the heritage of my ancestors, to His Majesty the King as well as to his Crown Prince, and I will put myself at their disposal to help and support them”, he wrote, recording the reconciliation with the Hashemite king.
The Jordanian people were deeply shocked by this story which affects the monarchical institution in this country which is preparing to celebrate in a few days the hundred years of the creation of the Hashemite kingdom.
