In Jordan sedition trial, U.S. defendant alleges torture – KIRO 7 News Seattle

AMMAN, Jordan – (AP) – A U.S. citizen and former top adviser to Jordan’s King Abdullah II claimed he was tortured in Jordanian custody and feared for his life, his U.S.-based attorney said on Sunday the eve of a verdict in the height profile riot process related to a rare public rift in the ruling family of the kingdom.

Along with the allegations of ill-treatment, the closed trial in the Jordanian State Security Court was “totally unfair,” Michael Sullivan, a former federal attorney hired by the American family of the defendant Bassem Awadallah, told The Associated Press.

The allegations of ill-treatment, denied by Jordanian officials on Sunday, came just days before the King of Jordan as the first Arab leader to meet President Joe Biden in the White House on July 19. Jordan is an important ally of the West in an unstable Middle East.

Awadallah and co-defendant Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a distant cousin of the king, have pleaded not guilty to charges of sedition and incitement, which result in long prison terms.

The defendants were charged with conspiring with a high-ranking king – Prince Hamzah, a half-brother of the king – to stir up unrest against the monarch while seeking foreign aid. The indictment portrays Hamzah as a disgruntled king who never forgave Abdullah for robbing him of his title as Crown Prince in 2004. Hamzah, who was placed under house arrest in April and has only been seen in public once since then, denied inciting against the king, saying he was punished for declaring high-level corruption.

Despite the grave allegations against Awadallah and bin Zaid, the trial ended after just six sessions. The court denied requests by Jordanian defense lawyers to appoint witnesses and prosecutors who only disclosed alleged transcripts but no audio recordings of the surveillance of the alleged conspirators.

The State Security Court prosecutor denied that the trial was unfair. Awadallah was “due process guaranteed” under Jordanian law, the prosecutor said in a statement to the AP. “He was not ill-treated in any way and his allegations of torture of any kind are false.”

The State Department said that US consular officers visited Awadallah five times and that “we also take seriously all allegations of abuse and lack of minimum guarantees of fair trial.”

Sullivan, a former U.S. attorney from Massachusetts and former acting director of the Federal Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said a guilty verdict appeared to be a foregone conclusion based on the way the trial was conducted. He said any conviction would be appealed.

The US legal team that has been in the background so far will play a more open role in the appeal phase, Sullivan said. The aim is to raise awareness of the Awadallah case in the US and internationally. These include “the serious short-term concerns about its safety and the utter injustice of the process, as well as the obvious torture and violation of a number of international conventions, treaties and laws,” Sullivan said.

Prosecutors said Awadallah made no allegations of torture during the trial, his 17 meetings with his Jordanian attorney, or the first four meetings with U.S. consular officers in Jordan. “He made these claims only at his last meeting with the consul, when the pronouncement of the judgment (verdict) was approaching,” the statement read.

Sullivan said Awadallah told his visitor that he had been beaten, electrocuted and threatened with future abuse “if he does not confess”.

Prosecutors said Awadallah made a voluntary statement on the case, denying that it was forcibly pulled out.

Awadallah’s family said late last week that he was afraid for his life. “Bassem is rightly afraid of being killed in prison after his conviction, particularly because he held several high-level and sensitive positions in the Jordanian government,” the family said.

Awadallah, who also has Jordanian and Saudi citizenship, was head of the royal court and government minister in Jordan. He has extensive business interests in the Gulf and has advised Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on attracting foreign investment.

The Awadallah family called on the Biden government to demand the release of Awadallah.

Laub reported from Berlin, Germany.

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