JORDAN’S PRINCE HAMZAH BIN HUSSEIN ‘UNDER HOUSE ARREST’

Sun 04 April 2021:

The half-brother of King Abdullah II of Jordan, former crown prince Hamzah bin Al-Hussein, says he is under house arrest and has been forbidden to communicate with people outside of his home.

“I had a visit from the chief of general staff of the Jordanian armed forces this morning in which he informed me that I was not allowed to go out, to communicate with people or to meet with them because in the meetings that I had been present in – or on social media relating to visits that I had made – there had been criticism of the government or the king,” Prince Hamzah said in a video recorded on Saturday and circulated by British and Arabic media.

Prince Hamzah said he was able to post the video, recorded in English, thanks to satellite internet which had not been cut off yet.

“My security has been removed, and the internet and phone lines have been cut, this is my last form of communication, satellite internet, and I have been informed by the company that they had been instructed to cut it, so this may be the last time I am able to communicate,” Prince Hamzah said.

Video: Jordan’s Prince Hamzah bin Hussein ‘under house arrest’
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Source: BBC #الامير_حمزه #Jordan #Breaking #الأردن pic.twitter.com/JrDN2NkKCO

— Mohamed Ashi (@AshiLive) April 3, 2021

He said a number of his friends, people he knows, have been arrested, but stressed that he himself was not being accused of making criticism against Jordan’s ruling structures.

Nonetheless, Prince Hamzah went on to accuse the government of corruption.

“I am not the person responsible for the breakdown in governance, the corruption and for the incompetence that has been prevalent in our governing structure for the last 15 to 20 years and has been getting worse by the year. And I am not responsible for the lack of faith people have in their institutions,” Prince Hamzah said.

State media reported citing Jordan’s armed forces on Saturday that former Jordanian crown prince Hamzah was told to halt actions undermining national security. Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Jordanian Armed Forces, was quoted as saying by the Petra news agency that King Abdullah’s half-brother was asked to cease “movements and activities that are used to target” the security and stability of Jordan.

Petra reported earlier that Hassan bin Zaid, another member of the royal family, and the king’s confidant Basem Ibrahim Awadallah had been arrested for security reasons. However, Huneiti denied that the prince had been arrested.

The country’s economy has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Jordan, with a population of around 10 million, also hosts more than 600,000 Syrian refugees.

Jordan’s powerful intelligence agency, with a pervasive influence in public life, has played a bigger public role since the introduction of emergency laws at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic last year, which civic groups say violate civil and political rights.

Jordanian riot police last month broke up protests in Amman and other cities called to mark the 10th anniversary of Arab Spring pro-democracy demonstrations, and authorities detained dozens of activists, witnesses said.

Jordan made peace with Israel in 1994, but relations have been tense in recent years, largely due to differences linked to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. Jordan is home to more than 2 million Palestinian refugees, most of whom have Jordanian citizenship.