Prince says he will disobey army orders
Jordan's estranged Prince Hamza said in a voice recording released yesterday that he would disobey orders by the army not to communicate with the outside world after he was put under house arrest and accused of trying to destabilise the country.
The government has accused Hamzah of involvement in a seditious conspiracy to "destabilise the kingdom's security", placed him under house arrest and detained at least 16 more people.
But 41-year-old Hamzah, who says he has been ordered to stay inside his Amman palace, vowed he would defy orders limiting his movement and communications, in an audio recording posted on Twitter late Sunday.
"I don't want to make moves and escalate now, but of course I'm not going to obey when they say you can't go out, you can't tweet, you can't communicate with people, you're only allowed to see your family," he said.
Hamzah, a former crown prince who was stripped off that title by Abdullah in 2004, has emerged as a vocal critic of the monarchy, accusing Jordan's leadership of corruption, nepotism and authoritarian rule.
In a video he sent to the BBC on Saturday he bemoaned "incompetence that has been prevalent in our governing structure for the last 15 to 20 years and has been getting worse". He charged that "no-one is able to speak or express opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened".
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