Suspicion of conspiracy in Jordan: "It is an event that will leave traces"
A Jordanian follows the news by reading the newspapers in this bookstore in Amman, April 4, 2021. AFP - KHALIL MAZRAAWI
Text by: RFI Follow
6 mins
It is a reputedly stable kingdom in a region shaken by religious and community rivalries.
Jordan is about to celebrate its hundred years of existence, it will be next Sunday.
But this anniversary risks being overshadowed by the affair, the scandal that erupted this weekend.
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Prince Hamza, half-brother of King Abdullah II is suspected of having participated in a plot to destabilize the country.
On Saturday April 3, Prince Hamza said in a video sent to the BBC that he was under house arrest.
About fifteen people were arrested.
And yesterday, Sunday April 4, the Deputy Prime Minister used strong terms, evoking "
conspiracy
" and "
sedition
".
Camille Abescat, doctoral student at Ceri Sciences Po, specialist in Jordanian political life, answers RFI's questions.
Are these charges of conspiracy founded or is it a settling of scores between two brothers, two rival half-brothers?
I think the very first thing that should be emphasized is that for the moment the information we have is very partial.
I think it's a bit early to come to conclusions.
But what we can say nonetheless is that at first glance, the hypothesis of a simple settling of scores is quite unlikely, since, as you have recalled, it is a wave of arrests and the supposed implication of prince Hamza in the plot, it is nevertheless events which strongly undermine the image of Jordan, the stability of the monarchy, and the image of the royal family too.
It is for this reason that the Jordanian authorities, as we could see in the press conferences held yesterday, apply themselves not to speak of a coup, to minimize the facts or at least to show that the situation is under control and that it had been handled extremely quickly and efficiently.
Among those arrested, there is in particular Bassem Awadallah, a man who has dual Jordanian and Saudi nationality. He was an advisor to King Abdullah II of Jordan
and
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman.
Should this be seen as an implication of Saudi Arabia
?
This is kind of the question everyone has been asking themselves since yesterday.
But again, and sorry if I repeat myself but it is important to remember that today, everyone is still only at the stage of speculation.
But it is true that Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi mentioned yesterday that a foreign government was involved in this plot.
And it is true that everyone is betting on Saudi Arabia given the profile of some of those arrested.
There is Bassem Awadallah as you just mentioned, there is also Cherif Hassan who is a relatively unknown member of the royal family, it is true, but who was also sent to him royal in Saudi Arabia.
So, it is true that it does a lot of things.
But again, we're still just guessing and I think we'll learn more in the next few days.
We have seen many Gulf countries, but also the
United States, providing support to Amman.
Can this episode weaken the kingdom
?
I think we are in any case in a position to say that from today, it is an event that will leave traces.
It is a completely exceptional event which caused general amazement and which, moreover, occurs a few days before the centenary of the Jordanian state.
So I think that first of all, it is an event that will indeed leave traces internationally in Jordan's relations with some of its main partners such as the United States.
A partner who values Jordan's stability.
But in my eyes, it is above all an event that will leave traces inside Jordan because we are still dealing with a video of a member of the royal family, much appreciated by Jordanians, who points the finger intensification of political repression.
His words necessarily speak to the Jordanians, and here I am really citing one event among others but no later than March 24 of this year, you have dozens of political opponents who were arrested during demonstrations celebrating the anniversary. of the Arab Spring.
So I think that this is an event that will leave all the more traces since it occurs in a political context that was already particularly tense.
Newspaper.
Arab newspapers report the unanimous support of Arab officials for King Abdullah in the current security crisis in Jordan, writes
our regional correspondent,
Alexandre Buccianti.
"
The stifled plot
" headlines the Jordanian daily
Al Doustour
while the newspaper
Al Raay
stresses that "
the security and the stability of the kingdom are a red line
".
The Jordanian press also publishes statements of “
unfailing support
” of political, tribal and popular groups and organizations for King Abdullah.
A place of choice is given to the support of the influential brotherhood of the Muslim Brotherhood: "
We can diverge on government policies but not on the stability of the state
".
Al Aalam
, a media close to Lebanese Hezbollah, for its part, points to the speed of the Saudi reaction by recalling that one of the main accused of conspiracy is a Jordanian-Saudi close to the crown prince, Mohammed ben Salman.
Other editorials in the Gulf press recall the succession of "
crises
" which the Hashemite regime has escaped in exactly one hundred years of existence.
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To read also: Arrests in Jordan: the authorities explain themselves
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