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Jordan’s military prosecutor seeks highest punishment for sedition accused

Policemen stand guard outside the State Security Court, in the Jordanian capital Amman. (File/AFP)
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Updated 01 July 2021
Raed Omari
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Jordan’s military prosecutor seeks highest punishment for sedition accused

  • Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid are standing trial on charges of plotting to undermine the regime
  • The two men were arrested on April 3 along with 15 other people suspected of involvement in the case
Updated 01 July 2021
Raed Omari

AMMAN: Jordan’s military State Security Court (SSC) prosecutor on Thursday asked the court to inflict the highest punishment on Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid over their alleged involvement in a high-profile sedition case.

Awadallah, a former chief of the Jordanian Royal Court, and bin Zaid, a distant royal family member, are standing trial at the SSC on charges of plotting to undermine the regime and the country’s security and stability.

The two men were arrested on April 3 along with 15 other people suspected of involvement in the case, which also involved Prince Hamzah, a half-brother of Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Jordanian authorities said that Awadallah, bin Zaid and Prince Hamzah were attempting to destabilize Jordan in collaboration with “foreign entities.”

Prince Hamzah’s case has been settled within the Hashemite family on directives from King Abdullah.

The Jordanian Royal Court published a letter signed by Prince Hamzah in which he vowed allegiance to the monarch and confirmed that he would act “always for His Majesty and his crown prince to help and support.”

The charge sheet against Awadallah and bin Zaid said the two defendants were long-time friends because of the nature of their work and connection to Prince Hamzeh.

Prince Hamzeh was seeking to become the ruler of Jordan and “took advantage of certain incidents, including the COVID-19 pandemic, to create chaos and frustration in the country,” the charge sheet added

Their strategy included attacks and criticisms of King Abdullah “with the hope of gaining popular support.”

Awadallah and bin Zaid pleaded not guilty during their opening trial earlier this month. Both suspects presented written statements to the SSC on Sunday.

The SSC prosecution sheet also included a charge against bin Zaid of possessing illegal narcotics (hashish).

During Thursday’s fifth closed-door session, the defense team asked the SSC for time to prepare their closing arguments, according to the state-run news agency Petra.

The SSC, which looks into cases related to terrorism and state security, set next Tuesday as the date for the trial.

Awadallah’s lawyer, Mohammad Afif, was quoted by government-owned Al-Mamlakah TV on Wednesday as saying that the defense team has requested that princes Hamzah, Hashemite and Ali be summoned as witnesses along with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.

Afif, a former SSC president, did not elaborate, but sources familiar with the case told Arab News that the SSC turned down the request.

According to lawyers, the two defendants could receive prison terms of three to 20 years if convicted on charges of incitement and sedition.

Topics: Jordan Bassem Awadallah Sharif Hassan bin Zaid Prince Hamzah

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DAMASCUS: An Israeli strike hit a Syrian town near the border with Lebanon on Tuesday, Syrian state media said, less than a week after deadly strikes on the same area.
“An Israeli aggression targeted the industrial zone in Al-Qusayr” in Homs province, the official SANA news agency said. There was no immediate news of casualties or damage.

Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,391

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Health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says war death toll at 43,391

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GAZA STRIP: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 43,391 people have been killed in the year-old war between Israel and Palestinian militants.
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Greece says migrant arrivals rising in south-east islands

  • At the end of October, several hundred migrants set up tents and cardboard houses outside the local government offices of the city of Rhodes, sparking anger among residents
  • Rhodes mayor Alexandros Koliadis told Rodiaki that the island lacks the personnel, police officers and coast guard needed to register the arrivals before transferring them to camps
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ATHENS: Some islands in the southeast of the Aegean sea, including Rhodes, are seeing an increase in migrants arriving by boat from Turkiye, Greek migration and asylum minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said Tuesday.
“The southeast of the Aegean and the island of Rhodes are experiencing migratory pressure right now,” he said on public television station ERT, though he said the increase does not appear to be linked to rising tensions in the Middle East.
At the end of October, several hundred migrants set up tents and cardboard houses outside the local government offices of the city of Rhodes, sparking anger among residents and local authorities.
According to local media Rodiaki, more than 700 migrants arrived during the last week of October.
Rhodes mayor Alexandros Koliadis told Rodiaki that the island lacks the personnel, police officers and coast guard needed to register the arrivals before transferring them to camps on the mainland or in other islands.
Previously, Aegean islands further north such as Lesbos and Samos had received the brunt of migrants crossing from Turkish shores.
Crete, which has likewise seen an increase in arrivals from Libya, also needs to build facilities to process migrants.
Greece has seen a 25 percent increase this year in the number of people fleeing war and poverty, with a 30 percent increase alone to Rhodes and the south-east Aegean, according to the Migration Ministry.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says 48,158 arrivals have been recorded so far in 2024, of which around 42,000 arrived by boat and 6,000 by crossing the land frontier with Turkiye.
“The camps on the islands have an occupancy rate of 100 percent. But on the mainland they are only 55 percent full, which provides a margin in the event of an increase in arrivals on the islands,” Panagiotopoulos said.

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Sudan files AU complaint against Chad over arms: minister

  • Chad last month denied accusations that it was “amplifying the war in Sudan” by arming the RSF
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PORT SUDAN: Sudan’s army-backed government on Tuesday accused neighboring Chad of supplying arms to rebel militias, likely referring to the paramilitary forces it is battling.
The northeast African country has been engulfed by war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the regular army, led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Justice minister Muawiya Osman said Burhan’s administration had lodged the complaint against Chad at the African Union.
Speaking to reporters, including AFP, Osman said the government demanded compensation and accused Chad of “supplying arms to rebel militias” and causing “harm to Sudanese citizens.”
“We will present evidence to the relevant authorities,” he added from Port Sudan, where Burhan relocated after fighting spread to the capital, Khartoum.
Chad last month denied accusations that it was “amplifying the war in Sudan” by arming the RSF.
“We do not support any of the factions that are fighting on Sudanese territory — we are in favor of peace,” foreign minister and government spokesman Abderaman Koulamallah said at the time.
The United Nations has been using the Adre border crossing between the two countries to deliver humanitarian aid.
Sudan had initially agreed to keep the crossing open for three months, a period set to expire on November 15. Authorities in Khartoum have yet to decide whether to extend the arrangement.
The Sudanese war has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million, including 3.1 million who are now sheltering beyond the country’s borders.

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Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12

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Explosion at Turkish oil refinery injures 12

  • The 12 employees sustained slight injuries and were taken to a hospital for examinations
Updated 05 November 2024
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ANKARA: An explosion at an oil refinery in northwestern Turkiye on Tuesday left at least 12 employees slightly injured, the company said. A fire at the facility was quickly brought under control.
The Turkish Petroleum Refineries company, TUPRAS, said a fire broke out at its facilities in Izmit, in Kocaeli province, during maintenance work on a compressor. The company’s emergency teams responded immediately to the incident, it said in a statement.
The 12 employees sustained slight injuries and were taken to a hospital for examinations, the company said.
The company said the unit where the incident occurred “was deactivated in a controlled manner” and that other operations at the refinery were “continuing as normal.”
Earlier, Tahir Buyukakin, the mayor for Kocaeli told private NTV television that the blast occurred during a drill. The fire was quickly brought under control by the company’s own crews and no request for help was made, he said.
Video footage from the site showed smoke rising from the refinery, which is one of Turkiye’s largest. Izmit is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Istanbul.
The Borsa Istanbul stock exchange temporarily halted trading of TUPRAS shares, until the company provides a detailed explanation of the incident.

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