The former crown prince of Jordan appears to pledge allegiance to his half-brother, the king, after being accused of a coup attempt and put under house arrest
AP Photo/Yousef Allan
- Jordan accused Prince Hamzah of plotting to overthrow his half-brother, King Abdullah, on Saturday.
- In a video statement, the prince denied the claim but denounced corruption in the country.
- On Monday, the palace released a statement from Prince Hamzah pledging allegiance to the king.
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The former crown prince of Jordan has appeared to pledge allegiance to the king following accusations he was plotting to seize the throne.
On Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said the government had "foiled" an attempted coup led by Prince Hamzah amd two officials against his half-brother, King Abdullah II.
In an attempt to ease tensions, Prince Hamzah, 41, took part in a successful mediation with the king's uncle, Prince Hassan, on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
In a letter released by the royal household on Tuesday, Prince Hamzah pledged allegiance to the 59-year-old king.
"In light of the developments of the past two days, I put myself at the disposal of His Majesty the King," the statement said, per the AP.
More than a dozen people were detained over the weekend in connection to the alleged coup, and the 41-year-old former crown prince said he was placed under house arrest.
In a video shared with the BBC, published on Saturday, Prince Hamzah said the Jordanian military had detained him at his home and cut his communications.
He also denied planning to overthrow King Abdullah.
On Sunday, government officials accused Prince Hamzah of meeting with foreign agents who were working to destabilize Jordan, Reuters reported.
Prince Hamzah was removed as crown prince of Jordan in 2004 and replaced by Prince Hussein, the king's son.
Since then, Prince Hamzah has often criticized the government and royal palace over corruption and bureaucracy.
In the video shared with the BBC, the prince said he was not trying to overthrow the king, but couldn't stay silent.
"No one is able to speak or express opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened," he said.
"There is no conspiracy here. Whatever concoction they're attempting to create or whatever narrative that they're attempting to sell, the basic fact is that this is all about human dignity here, freedom from arbitrary government, freedom from invasive security apparatuses and services."
Prince Hamzah said he released the video after the head of Jordan's army threatened him being part of a meeting in which the running of the country was criticized.
"The army chief of staff came to me and issued threats in the name of heads of security agencies," Hamzah said in the video.
"Unfortunately, this country has gone from one that was at the forefront of the region in terms of education and healthcare, in terms of human dignity and freedoms, to one in which even to criticize a small aspect of a policy leads to arrest and abuse by the security services."
On Tuesday, an audio recording, purportedly of a meeting between Prince Hamzah and the Jordanian military General Yousef Huneiti, surfaced and spread online.
In the audio, Prince Hamzah is heard being told that he is being put under house arrest for meeting with state critics and must not tweet his opinions, the AP reported.
Hours later, the prosecutor general in Amman banned the publication of any details about the allegations around Prince Hamzah until further notice, the Arab News reported.