Jordan prince apologizes to king for 2021 palace crisis

By: 3 years ago

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Prince Hamzah

This handout file photo released by the Jordanian Royal Palace on April 11, 2021, shows Jordan’s King Abdullah II (R), Prince Hassan Bin Talal (L) and Prince Hamzah (C) arriving at the Raghadan Palace in the capital Amman. AFP FILE PHOTO

AMMAM — Jordan’s royal court said Tuesday that former crown prince Hamzah has met his half-brother King Abdullah II, and apologised over events that sparked an unprecedented palace crisis last year.

In a letter sent “earlier this week”, Prince Hamzah “took responsibility for his actions and offences towards Jordan and His Majesty over the past years, including the incidents that followed in the sedition case”, a statement said.

The king and Hamzah met on Sunday evening “at the prince’s request”, it added.

In April last year, Jordanian authorities announced they had foiled a bid to destabilise the pro-Western kingdom and had arrested 18 suspects, though most were later released.

Hamzah, whom the king sidelined as heir to the throne in 2004, accused Jordan’s rulers of corruption and ineptitude in a video message posted by the BBC on April 3.

He said the same day that he had been put under house arrest.

A Jordanian court in July sentenced two former officials to 15 years in jail after finding them guilty of a coup plot.

Hamzah was not charged in the trial, but the charge sheet said he was “determined to fulfil his personal ambition to rule, in violation of the Hashemite constitution and customs”.

The prince’s “acknowledgement of his mistake and apology represent a step in the right direction on the path to regaining his role as other Royal family members”, Tuesday’s statement said.

Hamzah expressed the hope that “we can turn the page on this chapter in our country’s and our family’s history”, according to a translation of his letter provided with the statement.

The king appointed Hamzah as crown prince in 1999, at the request of his late father, but removed him from the post in 2004, later naming his son, Prince Hussein, as next in line to the throne.

The coup plot sparked a rare crisis in a kingdom seen as a pillar of stability in the region.

In July, former royal court chief Bassem Awadallah and an ex-envoy to Saudi Arabia, Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, were convicted of conspiring to topple the king in favour of Hamzah.

Authorities had said Hamzah would not stand trial, as his case had been resolved within the royal family, with Hamzah pledging allegiance to Abdullah.