JERUSALEM – The Jordanian king has gone public with a royal feud with his half-brother and formalized the former Crown Prince’s house arrest, calling him an “irregularity” in an unprecedentedly harsh public letter released on Thursday.
“We will give Hamzah everything he needs to live a comfortable life, but he will not have the place he once abused to upset the nation, its institutions and his family, or to undermine Jordan’s stability,” King said.
The announcement is the latest in a series of ongoing palace feuds that have seen the junior royal family held in a state of disarray and have seen the royal family’s internal disputes unprecedentedly spread to the public.
Abdullah and Hamzah are the sons of King Hussein, who ruled Jordan for almost half a century before his death in 1999. Abdullah appointed Hamza as his successor as Crown Prince but removed him from the title in 2004.
King Hamzah was placed under house arrest last April for allegedly plotting to destabilize the Western-allied kingdom.
In March, Hamzah apologized to the king, according to a letter published by the royal court, hoping that “we can turn the page on this chapter in the history of our country and our family.”
In Thursday’s letter, King Abdullah taunted his honest brother, saying he would “never let our country be held hostage to the will of a man who has done nothing to serve his country.”
