AMMAN, Jordan -- The government of Jordan on Sunday accused former crown prince Hamzah bin Hussein and several of his associates of cooperating with foreign entities to pursue a long-term plot to destabilize the kingdom, a day after arrests targeted up to 20 high-level officials.
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"These were efforts that threatened Jordan's security and stability, and these efforts were foiled," Deputy Prime Minister Ayman al-Safadi said.
In a televised news conference, Safadi said extensive investigations carried out by Jordan's security forces concluded that Hamzah, the half brother of King Abdullah II; Sharif Hasan, a member of the royal family; and Bassem Awadullah, a former senior official in the royal court and special Jordanian representative to the Saudi government, had engaged in activities that amounted to "promoting sedition."
They included cultivating relationships with members of the Jordanian opposition abroad as well as evidence of a person with foreign ties offering services to Hamzah's wife, including the immediate use of a private jet to leave Jordan.
Safadi declined to say whether the prince would be charged with a crime, saying only there were attempts to resolve the matter amicably. Safadi said Abdullah attempted to resolve the issue through a request by the joint chiefs of staff, but Hamzah refused to cooperate.
The government proposed that the cases be referred to the state's security courts, though it also announced that Abdullah would first discuss the matter directly with the prince, who has been under house arrest in his Amman palace since Saturday, to deal with the issue "within the framework of the family," Safadi said.
In a clear message that no dissent or criticism of Abdullah would be tolerated, the head of the Jordanian parliament, Faysal al-Fayez, said earlier Sunday "the king is a red line" and the country would stand against "any trembling traitorous hand that aims to mess with our security and stability."
The United States, which considers Jordan a critical ally and has partnered with the country for years on U.S.-led counterterrorism operations, said Saturday that Abdullah has its "full support."
But the monarchy is taking a risk in pitting itself against the widely popular Hamzah, whose Twitter hashtag has been trending since Saturday, and his American-born mother, Queen Noor.
Hamzah and Abdullah are both sons of Jordan's late King Hussein. They have different mothers.
Among the officials detained Saturday were Yasser Majali, the head of Hamzah's office; Sheikh Sameer Majali; and several other senior members of the influential Majali tribe who serve in prominent positions in the government and military.
In a statement Sunday, the Majali tribe described the arrests as "unlawful" and the event as a "black day in the history of Jordan."
Hamzah, 41, served as Jordan's crown prince for four years until 2004, when the title was transferred to Abdullah's eldest son, Hussein. Hamzah has held multiple positions within the monarchy and is a brigadier general in the army.
Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti, the chief of staff of the Jordanian army, said Saturday evening that Hamzah had not been detained but was "asked to stop movements and activities that were being employed to target Jordan's security and stability." Huneiti said in a statement that "all the procedures were conducted within the framework of the law and after extensive investigations."
Several hours later, Hamzah sent a video to the BBC in which he said he was forbidden from communicating with people or using Twitter after being told that he had participated in meetings in which the king was criticized. The video accused the government of corruption, incompetence and intolerance for dissent. Though Abdullah was not mentioned by name, it was a scathing critique of the monarch.
"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 ... and I am not responsible for the lack of faith people have in their institutions," Hamzah says in the video. "It has reached a point where no one is able to speak or express opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened."
NEIGHBORS RALLY
Amid rumors of "foreign" involvement in the alleged plot, Jordan's neighbors were quick to voice support for the monarch.
"The kingdom affirms its full support, with all its capabilities, to all decisions and measures taken by King Abdullah and His Highness Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, the Crown Prince, to maintain security and stability," the Saudi royal court said in a statement.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Sunday that "a strong, thriving Jordan is an Israeli security and economic interest and we need to do everything we can to assist them."
Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Morocco and other regional governments also quickly expressed support for Abdullah, a testament to Jordan's strategic significance.
Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political analyst, said the strong support for Abdullah reflected his generally good relations across the region as well as a concern that similar troubles could strike other countries.
Such public clashes between the highest ranks of the long-ruling family are unheard of, and any signs of instability in Jordan could raise concerns throughout the region.
None of the leaders in the region "would like to see havoc hitting any regime," Kamhawi said. "It could be contagious."
Jordan, a country of some 10 million people, has been shaken by a series of crises in recent years, from the rise of the Islamic State group in neighboring countries to an influx of Syrian refugees and an economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
For activists who have long protested systemic corruption, the events of this weekend signaled more repression ahead. "What was whispered in closed circles is now out in the open," said Daoud Kuttab, director of the Amman-based Community Media Network. Kuttab said low-level protests in the capital have been met in recent months with outsize punitive measures. "The official media is totally silent, and we know that there is much more to the story that we are not seeing."
Bessma Momani, a professor of international relations at Ontario's Waterloo University, said the house arrest of Hamzah was "self-defeating" because it is likely to strengthen the prince's popularity.
Nonetheless, she said it sent a powerful message to the Jordanian public. "If a prince can be stymied, no Jordanian is immune from the heavy hand of the state," she said.
Abdullah has ruled the country since his father's death in 1999. He has cultivated strong ties with several U.S. administrations, but sparred with President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over proposed Israeli plans to annex the West Bank and bypass the Palestinians in a bid for normalizing Israeli ties with the rest of the Arab world.
Information for this article was contributed by Taylor Luck, Shira Rubin and Sarah Dadouch of The Washington Post; and Josef Federman and Sarah El Deeb of The Associated Press.