AP :
Jordan’s trial of the century has gotten under way as a relative of King Abdullah II and a former chief of the royal court were ushered into the defendants’ cage at the state security court to face charges of sedition and incitement.
The men stand accused on Monday of conspiring with a senior royal – Prince Hamzah, a half-brother of the king – to foment unrest against the monarch while soliciting foreign help.
“As far as I know, there has not been a case this big in the history of Jordan,” said defence lawyer Ala Khasawneh. State news agency Petra confirmed the trial started on Monday.
The palace drama erupted in early April when Hamzah was placed under house arrest.
It has since broken taboos in Jordan and sent shockwaves through foreign capitals, with Western powers rallying behind Abdullah, a strong ally in the region.
The case exposed rivalries in Jordan’s traditionally discreet Hashemite dynasty and spawned unprecedented public criticism of the monarch. The defendants are the most senior establishment figures to appear before the security court, which typically goes after drug offenders or members of armed groups.
The 41-year-old Hamzah is the central figure, though he is not facing charges. In clashing narratives, he is either a champion of everyday Jordanians suffering from economic mismanagement and corruption, or a disgruntled royal who never forgave Abdullah for taking away his title of crown prince in 2004 and giving it to his oldest son.
The indictment, leaked to state-linked media, alleges Hamzah “was determined to achieve his personal ambition” of becoming king. It said the prince and the defendants – Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a royal, and Bassem Awadallah, a former royal adviser – conspired to stir discontent.
Security agencies began monitoring them in mid-March at a time of public uproar over an oxygen outage at a hospital in the town of Salt that killed eight coronavirus patients.
Hamzah met with bereaved families just after the king visited Salt. The indictment alleged the prince “took advantage” of the families’ pain to spread a populist message.
Hamzah’s popularity stems from ties he has nurtured with Jordan’s tribes, the bedrock of Hashemite rule.
Atef Majali, a tribal leader in the town of Karak, said he and other sheikhs have met with the prince more than a dozen times over the years, but denied the king was criticised at these events.
