Jordan ‘coup plot’ trial set for verdict on Monday

By AFP 6 July 2021, 5:23 pm

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Bassem Awadallah, a former royal adviser, leaves a state security court in a vehicle after the first session of his trial, in Amman, Jordan, June 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh)

A Jordan court is expected to issue a verdict next Monday in a trial over an alleged plot to overthrow Jordan’s king in favor of his half-brother Prince Hamza, a defense lawyer says.

Former royal court chief Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, once a special envoy to Riyadh, have pleaded not guilty to “incitement against the ruling system” and “acts that could threaten society and create sedition.”

“The State Security Court set Monday’s hearing for the reading of the verdict,” bin Zaid’s lawyer, Alaa al-Khasawneh, tells AFP. He says the defense team had asked the court to “find both our clients innocent of the charges against them.”