Jordan, the king's half-brother on video to the BBC: they are under house arrest

2021-04-04T05:23:53.103Z

The half-brother of Jordan's King Abdullah II, Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, said he was placed under house arrest and accused the country's "system of government" of incompetence and corruption, exposing a rare rift within the monarchy. power in Jordan. Prince Hamzah's videotaped statement reached the BBC after the country's official news agency reported that two former senior officials and other suspects had been arrested for "security reasons", although authorities denied Hamzah was being detained. or placed under house arrest. In a video leaked to the BBC, Hamzah, a former crown prince deprived of the title in 2004, said he was visited on Saturday by the country's military leader and told he was not allowed to go out, communicate with people or meet with them. . He also said that his phone and internet service were down, and that he was talking on the internet via satellite and expected that service would be stopped as well. The BBC said it received the statement from Hamzah's lawyer. Hamzah said he was informed that he was being punished for attending meetings where the king was criticized, although he said he was not accused of joining in the criticism. <iframe width = "400" height = "500" frameborder = "0" src = "https://www.bbc.com/news/av-embeds/56626370/vpid/p09cpbfl"> </iframe>