Jordan jails Two ex-officials over royal 'sedition' plot: What you need to know

Picture courtesy: BBC news

1. A military court has sentenced a former royal court chief and a relative of King Abdullah on charges of attempting to destabilize the monarchy.

2. Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, who denied the charges, were both sentenced to prison for 15 years.

3. They were detained in April when former crown prince Hamzah was placed under house arrest over an alleged plot to destabilize the nation. 18 people were arrested over the plot but only Awadallah and Sharif Hassan were charged.

4. The court said it had confirmed evidence backing the charges against them and that they had been determined to harm the monarchy by pushing the former heir to the throne prince Hamzah as an alternative to the King. They had also alleged to sought foreign assistance.

5. Bin Zaid was sentenced to another year and a penalty of 1000 dinars for drug abuse.

6. Prince Hamzah, half brother of the king did not face any charges. The King decided to deal with the case "with the framework" of the royal family after the prince publicly pledged his allegiance.

7. Hamzah is a popular figure in Jordan. In a video, he said he was being silenced for speaking out against corruption and poor governance by the ruling system.

8. The verdict was announced following a closed-door trial that consisted of just 6 hearings.

9. Awadallah's lawyer Sullivan told that the trial was "completely unfair". Awadallah says he has been beaten, tortured and threatened with future mistreatment" if he did not confess", Sullivan said.