2 confidants of senior Jordan royal charged with sedition

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The prosecutor of Jordan’s state security court has filed sedition and incitement charges against two confidants of King Abdullah II’s half-brother Hamzah. Sunday’s charges mark the latest step in a rare, intrigue-filled palace drama that has rattled the Western-backed kingdom. The affair erupted into the open in early April when Hamzah was placed under house arrest. At the same time, two of his confidants were arrested amid allegations that they tried to destabilize Jordan with foreign help. At the time of his initial house arrest, Hamzah alleged that he was being silenced for exposing what he said was incompetence and corruption of the “ruling system.”