Jordan court sentences two former officials over royal ‘sedition’ plot
A Jordanian court has sentenced a former royal aide and a minor royal to 15 years in jail on charges of attempting to destabilise the monarchy.
Bassem Awadallah, who has United States citizenship and once served as a top aide to King Abdullah II, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the royal family, were found guilty of sedition and incitement charges on Monday.
The court said it had confirmed evidence backing the charges against the pair and that they had been determined to harm the monarchy by pushing former heir to the throne Prince Hamzah as an alternative to the king.
Bin Zaid was sentenced to another year in prison and 1,000 dinars ($1,400) for drug abuse, Petra news agency reported.
The charges have exposed rifts within the ruling Hashemite family that has been a beacon of stability in a volatile region in recent years.
Awadallah, a former finance minister who was a driving force behind Jordan’s liberal economic reforms, was charged with agitating to undermine the political system and committing acts that threaten public security and sowing sedition.
The pair are also alleged to have sought foreign assistance.
They denied the charges, and Alaa al-Khasawneh, a lawyer for Sharif, said they would appeal the verdict.
In the days leading up to the trial, the alleged conspirators sought foreign assistance to exploit the king’s perceived vulnerability at a time when he was under pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia to accept a now-defunct Trump administration Middle East plan.
Jordan has expressed concern the plan would weaken the monarch’s historical role as guardian of key Muslim and Christian sites in occupied East Jerusalem and a pillar of Hashemite claims to legitimacy.
Allegations about foreign outreach focus on Awadallah, who holds Jordanian, US and Saudi citizenship, and once served as the king’s official envoy to Riyadh. He has close ties to Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Aljazeera
