AMMAN — A Royal
Decree was issued, approving the recommendation of the council formed in
accordance with the Royal Family Law, to restrict the communications, place of
residence, and movement of Prince Hamzah.
اضافة اعلان
The council had
provided the recommendation since December 23 last year.
His Majesty King
Abdullah sent a letter to Jordanians. Following is the full English
translation:
“In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Praise
be to God, and prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad.
My one Jordanian
family,
Peace,
God’s mercy, and blessings be upon you.
I
extend to you, the sons and daughters of our united Jordanian family, my
deepest feelings of pride and affection. You are the source of hope and
resolve, and with you, we will continue to build our noble nation, which will
remain a model of compassion, solidarity, harmony, and resilience, no matter
how great the challenges.
I write
to you in the hopes of turning the page on a dark chapter in the history of our
country and our family. As you know, when the details of the sedition case were
revealed last year, I chose to deal with my brother Prince Hamzah within the
confines of our family, hopeful that he would realize the error of his ways,
repent, and become an engaged member of our Hashemite family.
But
after more than a year during which he exhausted all opportunities to restore
himself on the right path, in line with the legacy of our family, I have come
to the disappointing conclusion that he will not change. This conviction grew deeper
with everything my young brother, whom I have always treated as a son, has said
and done. And now, I am certain that he is living in a state of self-deception,
where he sees himself as the sole guardian of our Hashemite legacy, and the
target of a systematic campaign by our institutions. His frequent letters have
reflected the state of denial in which he is living, and his refusal to take
any responsibility for his actions.
My
brother Hamzah continues to ignore all facts and indisputable evidence, manipulating
events to bolster his false narrative. Unfortunately, my brother truly believes
what he claims. The delusion he lives in is not new; other members of our
Hashemite family and I have long realized that he reneges on his pledges and is
persistent in his irresponsible actions that seek to sow unrest, unconcerned
with the ramifications of his conduct on our country and our family. As is
typical of him, not long after vowing to renounce his erroneous ways, he goes
back on his promises and returns to the path he chose years ago, putting his
interests before the nation instead of taking inspiration from the history and
values of his family. He continues to live within the confines of his own
reality rather than recognizing the great stature, respect, love, and care we
have given him. He ignores facts, denies realities, and plays the role of the
victim.
Over
the past years, I have exercised the highest degrees of tolerance,
self-restraint, and patience with my brother. I have excused his behavior,
hoping that he would, one day, mature and that I would then find in him a
supporting brother in the service of our proud people and in safeguarding our
nation and its interests. I have been consistently patient and have been
disappointed time and again.
My family,
The
sedition case in April of last year was not the beginning of Hamzah’s state of
denial. He chose to stray from the legacy of his family years ago; while he
claimed he had accepted my constitutional decision to restore the position of
the crown prince to its original constitutional rule, all his actions since
have demonstrated otherwise. His negative behavior was obvious to all members
of our family, as he surrounded himself with individuals who sought to promote
opposition to that decision and made no effort to stop them.
I was
hopeful that Hamzah would find contentment in the stature and position with
which God Almighty had blessed him, so that he could serve our beloved nation
and people. However, he continued his offensive behavior against me, the legacy
of his family, and our state institutions that extend every support to him and
others.
I,
nonetheless, chose to overlook his actions in the hope that he would overcome
this self-imposed state. Despite everything, he is my brother. Yet, he consistently
chose to treat all those around him with suspicion and continued to stir up
controversy. All the while, he justified his failure to serve our nation or
present realistic solutions to the challenges we face by claiming he was being
targeted and victimized.
I
sought to support his career in the Armed Forces, in the hope that the
dedication, patience, and sacrifices of our brothers in arms would invigorate
his resolve and help him move past his overwhelming negativity. But I was
disappointed. During the years he spent in our valiant Armed Forces, a school
in honor and fortitude, I would receive complaints from the Arab Army’s
leadership and his colleagues about his arrogant conduct towards his superiors,
and his attempts to sow doubt in the professionalism and capabilities of our
Armed Forces.
I have
tried, as have members of our family, to free Hamzah from his self-induced
illusions so that he could become an active member of our family in our service
to Jordan and Jordanians. I have presented him with many assignments and roles
in service of the country, which were only ever met with suspicion and
skepticism. He has never offered anything of substance beyond complaints and
populist slogans, and he has not once come to me with a solution or a practical
proposal to deal with any of the problems facing our beloved nation. The only
proposal that Prince Hamzah ever presented was to unify the intelligence arms
of our Armed Forces under his command, despite the irrationality of this
suggestion and the fact that it completely contradicts with the way our Armed
Forces operate.
I am
fully aware of the challenges facing our nation and the constant need to
address shortcomings and gaps. I welcome and seek constructive criticism and
dialogue from everyone. But, at the same time, I recognize that these
challenges cannot be addressed or overcome through showmanship that aims to
exploit our economic woes to spread despair and defeatist discourse.
For
years, it pained me every time I noted Hamzah’s absence at national and family
occasions, and I prayed that he would stop isolating himself this way. However,
he favored creating controversy around his absence — hoping that it would
bolster the image of victimhood he had created, over upholding his national and
family obligations. He even refused to participate in the funeral of our eldest
uncle, HRH Prince Mohammad bin Talal, may he rest in peace, to publicly take a
personal stance during a family moment that called for solidarity and
compassion.
My
family,
After
the attempt to sow sedition was nipped in the bud last year, and as part of
efforts to deal with Prince Hamzah within the confines of the family, our
uncle, HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, has since met with him several times to
offer him advice and guidance. Our brothers and cousins also exerted tremendous
efforts to bring him back to the fold. But today, after all the time he has had
for self-reflection and self-reconciliation, he remains on the same misguided
course.
I have
seen nothing from him but disregard for the facts and denial of all of his
mistakes and errors, which have impacted an entire nation. This was evident in
a private letter he sent to me on January 15, in which he distorted the facts
and ignored whichever details did not fit into his narrative. He even went as
far as to put words in my mouth, attributing to me statements I never made.
He
intentionally distorted the truth of what took place between him and the
Chairman of the Army’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, claiming that the chairman’s
visit to his house was a surprise, when in fact, it came at the time and place
he himself had set.
He
presented a false narrative of his role in the sedition case, disregarding
facts that the public became aware of regarding his suspicious relationship and
communications with the traitor Bassem Awadallah, and Hassan bin Zeid, whom my
brother knew had approached two foreign embassies to ask about the possibility
of their countries supporting what he had described as regime change.
Hamzah
claimed that he and his family have long been targeted and persecuted, when, in
fact, they have always been afforded every means of comfort and luxury across
all aspects of their lives and at his palace. This continued even after the
sedition events; at no point were any restraints imposed on his family or on
their access to his own personal accounts.
My
brother violated every tradition of our family, as well as our Jordanian
values. He demeaned his stature as a Hashemite Prince when he violated the most
basic principles of moral conduct by secretly recording his meeting with the
Chairman of the Army’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and, immediately after, sending
the recording to Bassem Awadallah. He was also quick to send a recorded video
to foreign media, in an act ill-befitting of our nation and our family. Not for
a moment did he consider the consequences of such an action on our country and
people. He could have reached out to me or whomever he wanted from our family
to discuss what had taken place without jeopardising his reputation or that of
the family, but he chose instead to vilify and defame Jordan as a means to win
popularity and manipulate emotions.
Never,
in our family’s history, or in the history of other royal families, has a
family member sent recorded video messages to foreign entities, attacking the
very national institutions from which he himself benefits and calling their
integrity into question.
These
actions represent a blatant violation of his stature as a Hashemite Prince, and
a contravention of the norms and traditions that every member of our family has
honored since Abdullah I, may his soul rest in peace, assumed his duties.
Imagine the chaos that would ensue if each member of my family chose to
publicly express his or her views on political and state affairs, and to
criticize our institutions without respecting our Constitution and our
traditions.
My
brother Hamzah preaches morality, disingenuously invoking our Hashemite values
while violating them with his actions and behavior. He claims to live by the
example of our ancestors in his words, but flouts their legacy with his deeds.
Following the example of one’s forefathers is not done by emulating their
appearance, but by safeguarding their legacy, committing to their principles,
and embodying their ethos. It has become evident that the Prince is living in
the fantasy created by those around him that he alone has inherited this great
legacy, despite his young age and limited experience. How I have wished that he
had spent more years with our father Al Hussein, may his soul rest in peace, to
learn from him the values of leadership and the unwavering principles that he
instilled in us—but this was not God’s will.
I have
been forthcoming with Hamzah about all of this over the years, and have
counseled him in an effort to help him emerge from this self-imposed state, but
to no avail. On the contrary, he persisted in his delusion, hitting rock bottom
last year. This has been evident in all of his letters, which I felt were
prepared for media consumption and reflected his insistence on playing the
victim despite all attempts to get through to him.
After
all this, I realised that my young brother will remain captive to his own
misguided mind-set, which has rendered him incapable of distinguishing fact
from falsehood. I have also come to realise the difficulty of dealing with
someone who sees himself simultaneously as both hero and victim.
“Indeed
God does not alter the state of a people unless they have altered the state of
their souls.”
Nevertheless,
I exerted more efforts to reason with him, and sent him a written response to
the private letter he had sent me. I asked him to come to me after reconciling
with himself, acknowledging his mistakes, and committing to our values and
legacy. I stressed to him that if he wanted a legal resolution, as he had
requested, the legal option remained available to him, provided that he would
accept the consequences.
At his
request, I met him, in the presence of our brothers Their Royal Highnesses
Prince Feisal bin Al-Hussein and Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, hoping that he
would return to the light. And I presented to him, at the meeting, a way
forward to rebuild trust, including realistic steps that, if he so chose, would
enable him to restore his role as an active member of the Hashemite family. I
gave him full freedom of choice, and I was optimistic when Hamzah decided to
admit to what he had done and he sent me a letter apologizing to the nation,
the people, and to me for his actions.
Unfortunately,
it was only a matter of a few weeks before Hamzah confirmed his real
intentions, and returned to his familiar showmanship and victimhood. He
refrained from leaving his palace for a whole month, and refused to make use of
the privileges offered to him. Instead, he released a statement on social media
relinquishing his title, knowing full well that the granting and stripping of
titles is an exclusive prerogative of the King, in accordance with Article 37
of the Constitution and the Royal Family Law. And, at the same time that Prince
Hamzah announced to the public that he had renounced his title, he sent me a
private letter asking to maintain the financial and logistical privileges that
come with his title throughout the coming period.
Hamzah
reneged on the pledges he made in his letter, and violated the commitments he
made at our meeting, although his commitment entailed only short-term steps
towards rebuilding trust. And he, as always, resorted to the media in order to
create a commotion and gain sympathy and attention.
In the
same vein, Hamzah attempted to instigate a confrontation with the honorable
members of our Royal Guard on the morning of Eid Al-Fitr in a stark signal of
his determination to continue manufacturing crises, as he had done with the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last year. Hamzah knew that the
arrangements for Eid prayer had been set, in line with the established security
measures pertaining to his movements. However, he provoked the Royal Guard with
his aggravating behavior, resorting to the use of religious speech in order to
gain sympathy, and he filmed the incident he incited. Thankfully, Royal Guard
personnel carried out their duties professionally and respectfully, preventing
Hamzah from making a scene that is neither befitting of his stature nor that of
our Armed Forces.
“You cannot
guide whom you like, but (it is) God (Who) guides whomever He will.”
Our
united Jordanian family,
After
exhausting all options to deal with Hamzah within the family through brotherly advice and dialogue, I
see no alternative but to act on my obligation and responsibility towards my
larger Jordanian family and its interests, which far outweigh my duty towards
my small family. I will not allow anyone, no matter who, to put their interests
above the nation’s interest, and I will not allow even my brother to disturb
the peace of our proud nation.
We do not have the luxury of time to deal with
Hamzah’s erratic behavior and aspirations. We have many challenges and
difficulties before us, and we must all work to overcome them and meet the
aspirations of our people and their right to a dignified, stable life.
Therefore,
I have decided to approve a recommendation of the council formed in accordance
with the Royal Family Law, to restrict the communications, place of residence,
and movements of Prince Hamzah. This recommendation was put forward on December
23 last year, but I had held off approving it in order to give my brother
Hamzah the opportunity to reflect on his actions and return to the right path.
Considering
the Prince’s damaging actions, I will not be surprised if he releases offensive
messages that attack the nation and its institutions. But I, and our people,
will not waste time responding to him. I am convinced he will continue to
spread this false narrative, but we do not have the luxury of time to deal with
it. We have many national priorities and challenges before us that we must
address swiftly and boldly.
We will
provide Hamzah with all that he requires to live a comfortable life, but he
will not have the space he once abused to offend the nation, its institutions,
and his family, nor to undermine Jordan’s stability. Jordan is greater than all
of us, and its people’s interests come above those of any individual. I will
never allow our country to be held hostage to the whims of someone who has done
nothing to serve his country. As such, Hamzah will remain at his palace, in
line with the decision of the Ruling Family Council, and in order to prevent a
repeat of any of his irresponsible actions, which would be dealt with
accordingly.
As for
Prince Hamzah’s family, they do not bear the burden of his actions. They are my
family and will be given all the care, love, and nurturing they need in the
future, as they have received in the past.
My
family,
With
God’s grace, our country will remain resilient, secure, and stable. Its
strength lies in your unity, our proud people, and your solidarity. This is
Jordan, the homeland of wisdom and tolerance, the nation of determination and
fortitude, which stands strong in the face of sedition and challenges.
Through you and with you, our journey will
continue, as we put our trust in God Almighty. I will always draw my
determination and hope from you, as we work together to build on the
achievements of our forefathers and chart the way towards a bright, promising,
stable future.
May God Almighty protect you all, safeguard
our noble nation, and grant us virtue and integrity.
Peace,
God’s mercy and blessings be upon you.”
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