Jordanian army chief denies that the king’s half brother has been arrested in an alleged coup attempt | World News

Jordan’s top military official has denied reports that the king’s half-brother has been arrested as part of an alleged coup attempt against the monarch.

But Major General Yousef Huneiti said Prince Hamza bin Al-Hussein was asked to stop “the movements and activities that are used to attack” the security and stability of Jordan.

It came after The Washington Post reported that the prince had been detained, while a video allegedly under house arrest was leaked to multiple broadcasters.

But in a statement released by Jordan’s state news agency, Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, another member of the royal family, and Bassem Ibrahim Awadallah, a former confidant of King Abdullah II, were said to have been arrested.

Hamza bin Al-Hussein was a former Crown Prince of Jordan, but was deposed as heir to the throne by King Abdullah in 2004 in what was seen as a consolidation of power.

The tradition of the ruling Hashemite dynasty under the 1952 constitution bestows the crown on the eldest son, but the monarch retains the option of appointing a brother to be next in line.

The couple share a father in the late King Hussein, but they have different mothers.

Awadallah previously served as finance minister and head of the royal court, before resigning in 2008.

He has also served as an advisor to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman.

Any political turmoil in Jordan will be of concern to its allies in the West, as the country has been seen as a beacon of stability in the Middle East.

The US State Department has already offered the king, who has cultivated close ties with Washington and been a key ally in the war against the Islamic State, its “full support.”

King Abdullah has ruled Jordan, which borders Israel, the Palestinian territories, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, since the 1999 death of his father, King Hussein, who ruled the country for nearly half a century.

Jordan’s economy has been hit hard by the pandemic, which has hit its population of 10 million and more than 600,000 Syrian refugees hard.

Jordan is also home to more than two million Palestinian refugees, the majority of whom have Jordanian citizenship.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Jordanian intelligence agency has played a larger role in public life. This change has been condemned by civil rights groups.

Last month, riot police broke up protests in the city of Amman and other regions commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring.