Jordan sedition trial set to start

Monarch’s relative, former aide accused in plot with prince

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan’s version of a trial of the century gets under way today when a relative of King Abdullah II and a former chief of the royal court are to be ushered into the defendants’ cage at the state security court to face charges of sedition and incitement.

They are accused of conspiring with a senior royal — Prince Hamzah, a half brother of the king — to foment unrest against the monarch while soliciting foreign help.

The palace drama spilled into the open in early April, when Hamzah was placed under house arrest. It has since sent jitters through foreign capitals, with Western powers rallying behind Abdullah, an indispensable ally in an unstable region.

The case exposed rivalries in Jordan’s traditionally discreet Hashemite dynasty and spawned unprecedented public criticism of the monarch. The defendants are the most senior establishment figures to appear before the security court, which typically goes after drug offenders or suspected militants.

“As far as I know, there has not been a case this big in the history of Jordan,” said defense lawyer Ala Khasawneh. The state news agency Petra said the trial starts today.

The 41-year-old Hamzah is the central figure, though he is not facing charges.

The indictment, leaked to state-linked media, alleges Hamzah “was determined to achieve his personal ambition” of becoming king. It says the prince and the defendants — Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a royal, and Bassem Awadallah, a former royal adviser — conspired to stir discontent.

Security agencies began monitoring them in midMarch, at a time of public uproar over an oxygen outage at a hospital in the town of Salt that killed eight coronavirus patients.

Hamzah met with bereaved families just after the king visited Salt. The indictment alleged that the prince “took advantage” of the families’ pain to spread a populist message.

Hamzah’s popularity stems from ties he has nurtured with Jordan’s tribes, the bedrock of Hashemite rule. Atef Majali, a tribal leader in the town of Karak, said he and other sheikhs have met with the prince more than a dozen times over the years, but denied the king was criticized at these events.

The indictment alleged that Hamzah and the two defendants were working on social media messages the prince was to post, with the aim of “inciting some groups in society against the ruling system and state agencies.”

Hamzah has denied sedition claims, saying he is being punished for calling out corruption and mismanagement.

On April 3, the day he was placed under house arrest, more than a dozen tribal and public figures were arrested, including his chief aide. Only Awadallah and bin Zaid remain in detention.

The prince is not in legal trouble, with the king saying the matter is being dealt with by the family and that his half-brother remains under his care. The royal court has declined comment when asked if Hamzah can leave his Amman palace or communicate with others. Atef Majali said Hamzah’s staff were not allowed back to work.

Khasawneh, who represents bin Zaid, a distant cousin of the king, said his client plans to plead innocent. In addition to sedition and incitement, bin Zaid is also charged with narcotics possession after two pieces of hashish were allegedly found in his home.

The lawyer said he plans to call Hamzah to the stand — potentially amplifying the sensationalist nature of the trial. It’s not clear if the palace, eager to tamp down the crisis, would allow the prince to make his case on such a public stage.

Khasawneh said his client plans to fight the charges and brushed aside questions about a possible plea deal. During security court trials, defendants stand in a courtroom cage. Awadallah and bin Zaid are expected to be confined to the cage as well, said former state security court president Mohammad al- Afeef, who represents Awadallah. The defendants, who are held at an intelligence compound in Amman, face up to 20 years in prison.

In the days leading up to the trial, a broader narrative has surfaced, though it is only alluded to in the indictment.

In this version, the alleged conspirators sought foreign help to exploit the king’s perceived vulnerability at a time when he was under pressure from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to accept a now-defunct Trump administration Mideast plan often referred to as the “Deal of the Century.” Jordan has expressed concern that the plan would weaken the monarch’s historic role as guardian of major Muslim and Christian sites in contested Jerusalem and a pillar of Hashemite claims to legitimacy.