The first comment of the US State Department on the events in Jordan



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The name of the Jordanian prince, Hamza bin Al-Hussein, half brother of King Abdullah II, emerged at the heart of the arrest crisis that affected senior officials in Jordan, on Saturday, in the middle of the US newspaper “Washington Post”. talk about a coup plot.

The chairman of Jordan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Major General Yusef Ahmed Al-Huneiti, on Saturday denied news of the prince’s arrest, but said he was “asked to stop movements and activities that are being used to attack security. and the stability of Jordan. “

However, Prince Hamzah later appeared in a video clip, in which he said that he had received a visit from the Jordanian Army Chief of Staff, during which he informed him not to allow him to go out and communicate with or meet with people.

The prince said in the video that his bodyguards have been arrested and that he and his family are in the Peace Palace and that their communications are now restricted.

Prince Hamzah confirmed that he was not part of any conspiracy and that he was “not responsible” for the “collapse of the government system, corruption and inefficiency in the government of the country”, as he himself put it.

Prince Hamzah was the crown prince of Jordan, since the death of his father, King Hussein, and his older brother, Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, assumed the throne of the country in 1999.

The prince continued as crown prince until November 2004, when he was relieved to “enjoy the freedom to perform other duties assigned to him at that time.”

The Jordanian constitution stipulates that the mandate of the covenant is entrusted to the eldest son of the king, which means that Prince Hamzah’s office in this office was an exception to the constitutional rule, and his removal from office was a translation of the constitution.

Under the constitution, King Abdullah II’s eldest son, Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, automatically became the country’s crown prince after relieving his uncle, Prince Hamzah, from office, but the Jordanian monarch confirmed the matter by announcing that his son would take over. position, in 2009.

Prince Hamzah, half-brother of King Abdullah II, was born in 1980 and is the eldest son of the late King Hussein bin Talal, of his wife, Queen Noor.

After completing his basic studies in Jordan, he joined Harrow High School in Great Britain and later joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

In April 2016, Prince Hamzah assumed command of a faction in the Third Company within the ranks of the Royal Armored Corps, which King Abdullah II had assumed command when he was at the beginning of his military career.

In late 2017, the prince criticized former US President Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, tweeting denouncing the matter at the time.

In 2018, the Emir addressed allegations of corruption in Jordan and criticized the government’s performance in the field of economics, sparking widespread controversy at the time.

Although Prince Hamzah was not directly politically active, he did participate on a few occasions where he delivered speeches that had a large circulation and were very popular in Jordan.

A speech he gave at the graduation ceremony for students in the capital Amman was wildly popular on social media, in which he spoke about the difficult conditions people live in and corruption in the country.

An unofficial page on Facebook, named after Prince Hamzah, received extensive interaction with the posting of photos and videos showing the prince’s visits to various Jordanian regions, his proximity to large groups of people, his participation in events with Jordanian families, and he in the spotlight during the recent period.

The prince repeated in his tweets and statements, and even in the last video he published, on Saturday, the “oath” order he made in front of his father, shortly before his death, in which he promised to preserve Jordan and be loyal to him. he and his people, which some considered an allusion to a political role that the prince wishes.

The prince married Princess Noor Bint Asim bin Nayef in 2003 and they had a daughter in 2007, but they separated in 2009.

The prince remarried the flight instructor, Princess Basma Bani Ahmed, in 2012, and had four children by her and a son.

The prince held many positions in his country, including the honorary presidency of the Jordan Basketball Federation. He was appointed supreme president of the Al-Bayt Foundation for Islamic Thought, in addition to assuming the functions of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Automobile Museum and the Royal Air Sports Club.

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