Jordan's Prince Hamzah drops royal title in policy protest

Amman, Apr 04: Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, half-brother of Jordan's King Abdullah II said on Sunday he is renouncing his title of prince.

"After what I have witnessed over the past years, I have come to the conclusion that my personal convictions and the values that my father instilled in me... are not in line with the approaches, trends or modern methods of our institutions," he wrote in the statement posted on Twitter.

Last April, the king had placed Hamzah under house arrest for an alleged plot to destabilize the kingdom.

Last month, Jordan published an apology purportedly signed by Hamzah and in which he admitted wrongdoing.

Jordan's royal family feud

Hamza was named Crown Prince when King Hussein died in 1999 and Abdullah became king.

He was his half-brother's heir until 2004, when Abdullah stripped him of the title, before bestowing it to his own son in 2009.

Abdullah had accused his brother of sedition but said the dispute was being resolved within the family and that Hamzah remained in his own palace under the king's protection.

lo/rs (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Source: DW