Alwaght- Former chief of Jordan’s royal court as well as a member of the royal family will face trial next week over their alleged rule in coup plot against the Arab country’s King Abdullah II.
According to Jordan’s state media on Sunday, the military court will commence the trial of Bassem Awadallah, an ex-royal court chief and finance minister, as well as Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a distant relative of King Abdullah, over their role in an early-April coup bid, described by Amman as an attempt to destabilize security and stability in the Arab country with foreign help.
Eighteen individuals were arrested after authorities on April 3 announced that they had foiled a coup attempt by the suspects, but 16 were released later that month. Awadallah and bin Ziad, two confidants of King Abdullah II’s half-brother Hamzah, reportedly have close ties to Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince.
The suspects were arrested shortly after Prince Hamzah was placed under house arrest after he was accused by Amman of involvement in a conspiracy to “destabilize the kingdom's security.”
The prince, for his part, had accused the kingdom's ruling system of corruption, incompetence, and harassment in a video message published by the BBC on April 3, when he claimed he had been placed under house arrest.
However, Hamzah pledged loyalty to King Abdullah II after mediation by the royal family, and the king said the purported sedition had been quashed, adding that Hamzah was “under my care” with his family at his palace.
According to the report, Awadallah and Zaid were formally charged with agitating to undermine Jordan’s political system and acts that threatened public security and sowing sedition.
The two charges carry up to 30 years of imprisonment, judicial sources said.
Jordan turned down Saudi Arabia’s request to hand over Awadallah, who holds Saudi nationality, Reuters quoted unnamed officials familiar with the affair as saying.
