Fourth Anniversary of King Abdullah II Unlawfully Detaining His Half-brother, Prince Hamzah
(Washington D.C., April 25, 2025) – Jordanian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein, the former Crown Prince of Jordan, who has been under arbitrary and unlawful house arrest, imposed by King Abdullah since April 3, 2021.
The continued denial of his right to a fair trial underscores the arbitrary nature of his detention and highlights the absence of legal safeguards to uphold human rights against unchecked royal authority, said DAWN today.
"The continued unlawful detention of Prince Hamzah is a glaring injustice and a clear example of Jordan's broader human rights violations under King Abdullah's authoritarian regime," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of DAWN. "The international community—and U.S. lawmakers in particular, who are meant to uphold American values—have consistently failed to apply meaningful pressure on the King to respect the fundamental rights of the Jordanian people, including his own brother, Prince Hamzah," added Whitson.
Detention Conditions
From the very first day of his detention, King Abdullah II has held Prince Hamzah in near complete isolation and prohibited him from stepping outside the premises of his house arrest. Although the King has eased the restrictions on the communications and movement of Prince Hamzah's family—permitting his six children to attend school and make friendships in the neighborhood—his wife, Basmah Hamzah, a Canadian citizen, remains under tight control. The King requires her to obtain prior approval for any form of communication by phone or internet, which is limited strictly to her own family and select members of Prince Hamzah's family. The only person who regularly visits the Prince at his house arrest location, west of Amman, besides his wife and children, is his brother, Hashem.
A source close to Basmah's family, speaking anonymously to DAWN on April 21, 2025, revealed that Basmah's parents—Canadian citizens—have been able to meet their daughter and grandsons in Amman. However, the source clarified that these meetings have never taken place at the house where the King is detaining Prince Hamzah. On many occasions, Basmah's parents have received their daughter and grandchildren at a farm they own around 20 miles north-west of Amman. The source also stated that the King requires Basmah to notify the guards in advance about any phone calls she wishes to schedule with her parents or the other family members who she is permitted to call.
The King has allowed Prince Hamzah's children to have internet access at home for their online classes and games, with strict technical controls and a prohibition that Hamzah will not use the internet for any communications. When DAWN inquired whether there was a specific phone number through which the children or Basmah could be reached, the source firmly responded that no such numbers are available to the public or even to friends.
No Basis in Law for Hamzah's Imprisonment
On May 19, 2022, King Abdullah publicly stated that he had placed his half-brother, Prince Hamzah, under house arrest since April 3, 2021. The announcement, delivered in a lengthy statement, did not reference any formal judicial process or specific charges. The King justified the continued confinement by claiming Prince Hamzah was "influenced by unreasonable thinking" and restricted his interactions to only his wife, six children, and their brother Hashem.
As previously reported by DAWN, Prince Hamzah's detention came in the wake of accusations that he was involved in a 2021 plot to overthrow the monarch. While Jordanian authorities arrested several individuals in connection with the alleged conspiracy, only two were ultimately convicted in a court of law: Bassem Awadallah, a former head of the Royal Court, and Sharif Hassan Bin Zaid, a relative of the royal family.
Although the King holds no constitutional or legal authority under Jordanian law to detain any individual—including his brother—he justified his decision by referencing a recommendation from a "special council" he convened in December 2022. This council was established under Article Eight of the Royal Family Law of 1937, which permits the King to form an ad hoc body to assist in managing the "civil affairs" of royal family members, with no reference to criminal affairs. However, neither the Royal Family Law nor any other Jordanian statute grants this council the authority to arrest or detain anyone. As such, its recommendation to detain Prince Hamzah carries no legal force or validity.
The council, established on an ad hoc basis at the sole discretion of the King, was formed to provide a recommendation in this particular case. The King appointed Prince Ali—half-brother to both the King and the detained prince; then-Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh; then-Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs, Ibrahim Al Jazi; then-Supreme Shariah Court Judge, Abed Al Hafiz Irbatah; and then-head of the Judicial Council, Mohamad Al Ghazo, to the council. On December 23, 2021, the council issued its recommendation to restrict the prince's communications and movements. However, it remains unclear when the King initially instructed the council to make this recommendation.
"The King's so-called Special Council has no authority to imprison anyone, including royal family members," said Whitson. "No council, under the Jordanian Constitution or international law, has the legal power to deprive an individual of their basic right to due process and a fair trial."
A Jordanian legal expert, speaking anonymously to DAWN to protect his security, added, "The King breached the Constitution by relying on this council to justify Hamzah's imprisonment, as Article 26 clearly stipulates that the King must exercise his authority solely through the ministers. Moreover, the ministers themselves are obligated to act strictly in accordance with the law and established state institutions."
He further explained,
All royal decrees must be grounded in either the law or the Constitution. In this case, the King did not cite any legal or constitutional basis for the arrest. Instead, he offered a narrative to justify the detention of his half-brother, relying on the recommendation of a council that holds no legal or constitutional power to advise on or authorize indefinite detention—even of a royal family member.
Article 8 of the Jordanian Constitution states: "No Jordanian shall be arrested, held, imprisoned, or deprived of his freedom except in accordance with the provisions of the law." Under Jordanian law, only judges and prosecutors have the authority to detain citizens, as outlined in the Penal Code. However, an exception is made under the Crime Prevention Law of 1954, which grants governors the authority to detain individuals without the need to rely on the Penal Code.
A lawyer with expertise in Jordanian procedural law in Amman, speaking to DAWN on the condition of anonymity to protect his security, explained,
Jordanian laws clearly define the procedures for detaining any citizen — including who has the authority to issue a detention order, the necessary charges, the judicial process, and the maximum penalties for crimes. Nowhere in Jordan's legal framework is there a provision granting the King any special authority, with or without special councils, to detain individuals indefinitely outside of these legal boundaries, as was the case with Prince Hamzah.
Detained for Political Reasons, Not Criminal Acts
On May 23, 2023, DAWN published a detailed report on the detention of Prince Hamzah, outlining the events that led to King Abdullah II's decision to arrest his half-brother and former Crown Prince. The report highlights a growing "royal rift," which was triggered by Prince Hamzah's increasing public presence in March 2021—an escalation that unsettled a visibly jittery King.
Hamzah's imprisonment is also tied to the long-standing, over-a-century-old rivalry between the Jordanian monarchy and the competing royal family in Saudi Arabia. In early April 2021, Jordanian media reported that authorities had arrested several individuals, including Bassem Awadallah—a former Chief of the Royal Court who had begun working as an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a royal family relative, who had frequently visited Saudi Arabia. Jordanian prosecutors accused them of "conspiring against the king" and "sedition." On July 12, 2021, a Jordanian court tried and sentenced both Awadallah and Bin Zaid to 15 years in prison, and they remain incarcerated. However, no charges were brought against Prince Hamzah.
On April 5, 2021, the Royal Court published an apology letter from Hamzah to the King, stating his loyalty to King Abdullah II and his son Hussain "the current Crown Prince."
On April 3, 2022, nearly a year after issuing his apology letter, Prince Hamzah officially relinquished his royal title. Despite this gesture, King Abdullah continued to detain him, bypassing any judicial process or review, justifying the ban on Prince Hamzah from publicly expressing his "personal convictions", because they are at odds with "the approaches, trends, and modern methods of [Jordan's] institutions."
On April 9, 2021, the U.N. Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Turk raised concerns "about a lack of transparency surrounding the alleged destabilization plot in Jordan involving the monarch's half-brother Prince Hamzah." Since then, there have been no public pronouncements from any U.N. human rights body about the detention of Hamzah.
DAWN urges the U.S. Congress to halt financial and military aid to Jordan, citing widespread human rights abuses and the growing autocratic control exercised by the monarchy. This consolidation of power has increasingly undermined the country's judicial system, as documented in numerous reports by DAWN and other human rights organizations.
