Jordan Arrests Royal Family Member, Others in Crackdown

(Bloomberg) -- Jordan arrested a royal family member and asked a former crown prince to cease all activities that could threaten the country’s national stability after putting him under house arrest, a series of rare incidents in the kingdom.

Hasan Bin Zeid, a royal family member, was arrested on security concerns along with former minister Bassem Awadallah and others, according to the state-run Petra news agency. The report didn’t give further details. The Washington Post reported that as many as 20 people were arrested.

The nation’s army also asked former Crown Prince Hamza Bin Hussein to cease “movements and activities that might be used to target Jordan’s security and stability,” as part of an ongoing investigation, according to Petra news.

Security personnel and armored vehicles were seen parked outside royal palaces and patrolling the capital’s Dabouq neighborhood. The Washington Post reported earlier that Prince Hamza, the eldest son of the late King Hussein, had been placed in house arrest at his palace in Amman.

The report cited a senior Middle East intelligence official briefed on the events as saying the move came amid an ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to unseat his older half brother, King Abdullah II.

Prince Hamza, in a six-minute video provided to the BBC by his lawyer, said he was “not part of any conspiracy” against Jordan’s government.

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“I had a visit from chief of general staff of the Jordanian armed forces this morning in which he informed me that I was not allowed to go out, to communicate with people or to meet with them because in the meetings that I had been present in -- or on social media relating to visits that I had made -- there had been criticism of the government or the king,” Prince Hamza said in the video, adding that his internet and phone lines had been cut.

Saudi Arabia quickly responded to the arrests, saying it supported the Jordanian king’s decisions and measures to preserve security and stability and face any attempt to affect them.

Jordan is a close ally of the U.S. in the Middle East and receives annual aid from Washington. The U.S. most recently provided Jordan with $700 million in August.

“We are closely following the reports and in touch with Jordanian officials,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement. “King Abdullah is a key partner of the United States, and he has our full support.”

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