Jordan's Trial of The Century Pose Lots of Questions

Informed sources in the Jordanian capital said the verdict in the “sedition” case and the tough 15-year sentence for the accused, former royal court chief Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a royal family member, in the absence of witnesses, reflected an attempt by the authorities to quickly wrap up a case that has received a lot of public attention in Jordan.

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These sources said that closing the case this way was not very convincing, considering that the authorities had argued beforehand that the charges were serious and had wide-ranging implications.  The outcome left observers wondering how it was possible to reach a verdict so quickly while leaving unanswered most of the questions on the minds of Jordanians.

The sources considered that, although the trial may be over, it was no longer possible to conceal the details of the investigation nor avoid explaining why the trial had not taken place in public but behind closed doors.

The general impression is that the case has ended up putting the spotlight on the royal family itself, which was revealed not to be as cohesive as it was presumed to be.

On Monday, Jordan’s State Security Court sentenced Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid to fifteen years in prison on charges of attempting to cause chaos and sedition within the state. The ruling can be appealed to a higher court.

Jordanian political analyst Malek al-Athamneh said the verdict was predictable, but what was surprising was the speed with which it was reached. He pointed out the whole process in fact reflected the haste with which the trial was put together.

Athamneh told The Arab Weekly that “the case could have been closed more coherently if a more logical formula had been found to account for Prince Hamzah’s role, as he has been morally indicted through the indictment of the defendants, Awadallah and Sharif Hassan,”

He ruled out the possibility of a pardon for the defendants, at least in near future.

He added that “the verdict regarding Bassem Awadallah, in particular, is a message addressed to Riyadh, as well as to Washington, which Jordan’s King Abdullah II is currently visiting”.  Athamneh revealed that “Washington, as it was said and leaked to us, was the first party to alert the Jordanian authorities to the so-called plot.”

Jordan watchers did not rule out however that the speedy legal procedures would pave the way for a final closing of the file via a royal pardon on Awadallah and Sharif Hassan, so as to contain the issue politically and in line with public opinion.

The authorities wanted a secret and speedy trial through a special military court, arguing that the public hearings could jeopardise national security.

It also rejected the defence’s request to call witnesses, including Prince Hamzah.

The family of Awadallah, who holds dual US and Jordanian citizenships, hired former US federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan to represent them. Sullivan alleged that his client was tortured and that his confession was coerced.

He said the State Security Court’s 15-year sentence lacked transparency and justice.

Sullivan added in a statement that Awadallah was “beaten and tortured”, forced to sign a false confession and deprived of a fair trial that would have enabled him to refute the prosecution’s accusations.

Along with the mistreatment allegations, the closed-door trial before Jordan’s state security court “has been completely unfair,” Sullivan said.

The prosecutor’s office at the Jordanian state security court denied the trial was unfair along with the accusations of abuse. Awadallah was “guaranteed due process” in line with Jordanian law, the prosecutor said in a statement. “He has not been mistreated in any way and his allegations of torture of any kind are false.”

Jordanian officials say they had stopped what could have evolved into a foreign-directed plot.

They add that Awadallah tried to push Prince Hamzah to influence King Abdullah into accepting former US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, but Prince Hamzah did not show interest in such entreaties and focused only on his ambitions to ascend the throne.

Awadallah and Sharif Hassan arrived at the court under heavy security, handcuffed and wearing blue prison uniforms, as shown by photos and videos released by the authorities.

Journalists watched short live video broadcasts streamed from the courtroom to a nearby tent. Video transmission included the reading of the sentences.

At the beginning of the sentencing session, the senior judge, Lieutenant Colonel Military Judge Mowaffaq al-Masaeed, read out the facts of the case and the details of the indictment.

He said that Awadallah and Sharif Hassan were “tied by friendship since 2001” and the latter had bonds of “kinship and friendship with Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein.”

He added that both defendants shared “notions of hostility and incitement against the existing political regime in the kingdom and the person of His Majesty King Abdullah.”

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Sharif Hassan was also convicted of possession of a narcotic substance and one case of consumption of a narcotic substance (hashish). He was sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of 1,000 dinars ($1,400) for each of the two charges. However, the court applied the most severe penalty, which is 15 years imprisonment. Defence lawyers Muhammad al-Afif and Alaa al-Khasawneh, confirmed that they would appeal the sentences.

According to the 13-page indictment, Prince Hamzah, who was not implicated in the case, was personally driven by ambition to accede to the throne.

This article has been adapted from its original source.