Prince Hamzah pledges to cease his criticism of the king and abide by the rules, Jordan's Royal House says
Jordan's Royal Household has assured that Prince Hamzah, the half-brother of King Abdullah II held at his home on charges of leading a plot to destabilise the country, has pledged to abide by the rules of the ruling Hashemite family to resolve this conflict. Jordan has written off the alleged plot led by the former crown prince. Leading Jordanian newspapers on Monday highlighted how the prince's alleged plot was brought to an end after a campaign of arrests on Saturday in which between 14 and 16 people were detained, including a former court adviser and a member of the royal family.
"I place myself in the hands of the king, confirming that I will uphold the commitment of my parents and grandparents, faithful to his legacy, and follow in his footsteps, faithful to his path, to his message, abiding by the Constitution of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan," reads the message attributed to Hamzah and reproduced on Monday night, 5 April, by the Jordanian Royal Household on its website. "I will always support and stand by the king and the crown prince," adds the text, which is purportedly signed by the prince. The court posted the message shortly after reporting on its Twitter account that Abdullah II, determined to resolve the issue "within the framework of the Hashemite family", had commissioned his uncle Prince Al-Hasan to mediate with Hamzah and that the latter had pledged to abide by the procedure outlined by the monarch to do so.
All this came just hours after the BBC published a new recording of the king's half-brother, who, through his lawyer, criticised "corruption and nepotism" in his country for the second day in a row.
After denying being part of "any conspiracy or an infamous organisation or group supported from outside", as he was accused of, he again lashed out at "the incompetence that has prevailed in our government structure over the last 15 to 20 years", almost as long as Abdullah has been on the throne. He also denounced corruption and the interests of a few, whom he accused of being above "the life and dignity of more than ten million people who live here".
On Tuesday, the Amman prosecutor general banned the publication of information about Hamzah. The measure applies to "all audiovisual media and social networks", according to a statement broadcast on official television. "In the interest of respecting the secrecy of the investigation by the security services into Prince Hamzah and others, (it was decided) to ban the publication of everything related to this investigation at this stage," Magistrate Hassan al-Abdallat said in the statement.
Prince Hamzah is the eldest son of King Hussein and his fourth and last wife, Queen Noor, and when King Hussein died in 1999, Abdullah, his first-born son, succeeded him as Crown Prince. However, in November 2004, Abdullah reversed this decision and appointed his own son, Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, in his place. Prince Al-Hasan was his brother Hussein's official successor for 34 years, until Hussein replaced him with the current monarch a few days before his death.
Foreigners have expressed their full support for King Abdullah following the wave of arrests. The first head of state to express his full support for the Jordanian monarch was the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, who in a telephone conversation reiterated "to his brother Abdullah his full and natural solidarity with sister Jordan, and full support for all the decisions taken by King Abdullah to consolidate security and stability. A telephone interview that gives concrete expression to the strong historical and family ties that unite the two sovereigns and the two families, and of the links between the two countries and the two brotherly peoples". "The danger has undoubtedly passed because Jordan and its leadership have gained the support of the great powers and leaders of the Arab world, and the government can easily handle the matter without external pressure," former Jordanian Information Minister Samih Maayta told Efe. Russia was the latest to show its support on Monday for "the efforts of the legitimate authorities of Jordan and personally of King Abdullah II". "All Jordanians want this matter to be resolved within the Hashemite family," added Maayta, who nevertheless considered Prince Hamzah's alleged activities against the security of the Kingdom "unprecedented".
