AMMAN: Jordan’s Prince Hamzah, accused of a “wicked” plot against his elder half-brother King Abdullah II, has struck a defiant tone, insisting he will not obey orders restricting his movement. The government has accused Hamzah of involvement in a seditious conspiracy to “destabilise the kingdom’s security”, placed him under house arrest and detained at least 16 more people.

But 41-year-old Hamzah, who says he has been ordered to stay inside his Amman palace, vowed he would defy limits on his movement and communications, in an audio recording posted on Twitter late Sunday.

“I don’t want to make moves and escalate now, but of course I’m not going to obey when they say you can’t go out, you can’t tweet, you can’t communicate with people, you’re only allowed to see your family,” he said.

Hamzah — a former crown prince who was stripped of that title by Abdullah in 2004 — has emerged as a vocal critic of the monarchy, accusing Jordan’s leadership of corruption, nepotism and authoritarian rule.

In a video he sent to the BBC Saturday, he bemoaned “incompetence that has been prevalent in our governing structure for the last 15 to 20 years and has been getting worse”.

He charged that “no-one is able to speak or express opinion on anything without being bullied, arrested, harassed and threatened”.