Jordan’s Prince Hamza renounces royal title, protesting policies

Jordan’s Crown Prince Hamza bin Hussein delivers a speech to Muslim clerics and students on the opening ceremony of a spiritual convention on the Islamic Al al-Bayet College in Amman, Jordan August 21, 2004. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji/File Photograph

AMMAN, April 3 (Reuters) – Prince Hamza bin al-Hussein, a former inheritor to Jordan’s throne who was positioned beneath home arrest final 12 months, introduced on Sunday he was giving up his royal title in protest over Jordan’s present insurance policies.

Hamza was accused final April of making an attempt to destabilise the monarchy in a foreign-inspired plot, however was spared punishment after pledging allegiance to King Abdullah, his half-brother. learn extra

Within the letter revealed on his Twitter account, Hamza stated what he had witnessed in recent times made it tough for him to endorse insurance policies pursued by Jordan’s establishments.

“I’ve come to a conclusion that my private conviction and rules my father (the late King Hussein) instilled in me should not according to the trail, directives and trendy strategies of our establishments,” he wrote.

Hamza, 42, was named Crown Prince when King Hussein died in 1999 and Abdullah grew to become king, however misplaced that title 5 years later when Abdullah put in his personal son as inheritor.

Final 12 months he was positioned beneath home arrest after making accusations about corruption and authoritarian rule. The feud shook Jordan’s picture as a haven of stability within the unpredictable Center East.

A former royal chief adviser and a minor royal have been later sentenced to fifteen years in jail for involvement in an alleged plot to convey Hamza to energy.

Hamza final month issued an apology through which he pledged to not act in opposition to the pursuits of Jordan’s rulers. learn extra

His assertion on Sunday was temporary, saying he would proceed to serve Jordan in his non-public life, with out mentioning the king or any future function for himself.

Launched on the primary day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, it was laced with spiritual phrases more likely to enchantment to conservative Jordanians whose assist Hamza is seen to have courted over time.

Final 12 months’s disaster prompted main Western and regional powers to rally behind King Abdullah in uncommon public assist for a staunch U.S. ally that performs a pivotal function in regional safety.

The monarch stated the disaster had been “probably the most painful” as a result of it got here from each contained in the royal household and out of doors.

Reporting by Suleiman al Khalidi, Extra reporting by Ahmad Elhamy; Enhancing by Dominic Evans and Kevin Liffey

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