Hamza the Jordanian relinquishes the title of prince after a year of a conspiracy
Hamzah, the former Jordanian crown prince, who has been implicated in a coup plot against his half-brother King Abdullah II, relinquished his royal title on Sunday.
And Hamza announced, in a statement published on Twitter, that he was “abandoning the title of prince,” a month after a statement by the royal court in which he said he had apologized to the king for the failed coup attempt last year.
“After what I have witnessed over the past years, I have come to the conclusion that my personal convictions and the values that my father instilled in me… are not in line with the modern thrusts, orientations or methods of our institutions,” he wrote in the statement.
He wrote: “I had the great honor of serving my beloved country and dear people in this capacity throughout the years of my life.”
“I will remain as long as I am loyal to our beloved Jordan.”
On March 8, the Royal Court said that Hamza bears “responsibility for his actions and crimes against Jordan and His Majesty over the past years, including the events that followed the sedition case.”
Jordanian authorities announced last April that they had thwarted an attempt to destabilize the Western-allied kingdom, marking a rare crisis in a kingdom seen as a pillar of stability in the region.
Hamza, who was bequeathed by the king as heir to the throne in 2004, accused Jordan’s rulers of corruption and incompetence in a video message broadcast by the BBC on April 3.
A Jordanian court in July sentenced former royal court chief Basem Awadallah and Saudi Arabia’s former envoy, Sherif Hassan bin Zaid, to 15 years in prison after convicting them of involvement in the plot.
Hamza was not prosecuted, but the indictment said he was “determined to fulfill his personal ambition to rule, in violation of the constitution and Hashemite norms.”
King Hamzah appointed Crown Prince in 1999, at the request of his late father, King Hussein, but removed him from the position in 2004, then appointed his son Prince Hussein to be next in line to the Hashemite throne.
(AFP)
