Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi has said King Abdullah’s half-brother and former crown prince, Prince Hamza, had been liaising with foreign parties over a plot to destabilise the country and had been monitored for some time.
The authorities intercepted communications between Hamza and foreign parties over the timing of steps to undermine Jordan’s security, he said at a news conference.
Safadi said Jordanian intelligence had intercepted certain communications at what he called the “zero hour.”
“Then it was clear they moved from design and planning into action,” Safadi said.
Between 14 and 16 people are under arrest, he told reporters.
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A video, that was leaked to certain broadcasters on Saturday, showed Prince Hamza under house arrest after a visit from the chief of the general staff of the Jordanian armed forces.
He was told that he was not allowed to go out or to meet and communicate with others.
This is because Prince Hamza was told, “in the meetings that I have been present in, or on social media relating to visits that I’ve made, there has been criticism of the government or the king.”
Safadi said that Prince Hamza and those who had been detained will be referred to the state security court.
He called the video an attempt to distort facts and gain foreign sympathy, “in a way that reflects his intentions and the reality of the activities he has been carrying out for some time.”
Safadi also said that a “foreign intelligence agency” communicated with the wife of Prince Hamza at exactly 3:55pm Saturday and offered to supply them with a plane out of the country.
Safadi did not identify the foreign countries allegedly involved in the plot, but he said a longtime senior official who has business ties in several Gulf Arab states, Bassem Awadallah, was involved.
He said Bassem Awadallah had also been planning on leaving the country.
Asked whether anyone in the military had been detained, the deputy PM said “there is no talk of arresting any members of the armed forces” in connection with the plot.
The press conference comes after Queen Noor, widow of the late King Hussein of Jordan, said the claims about her son’s involvement with an attempted coup amounted to “wicked slander”. “Praying that truth and justice will prevail for all the innocent victims of this wicked slander,” she wrote in a tweet. “God bless and keep them safe.”
