On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, Amman Public Prosecutor Hassan al-Abdallat issued a ban on the publication of any information relating to Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, including photos, audio, video, and social media posts, according to reports by The Washington Post and Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency. On April 4, bin Hussein, formerly Jordan’s crown prince, passed a statement to the BBC saying that he had been placed under house arrest for allegedly participating in a coup against King Abdullah II.
The ban was issued to “preserve the confidentiality of investigations,” and is in effect indefinitely, according to the Petra report.
Jordanian authorities have previously detained journalists for reporting on issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic and normalization agreements between Israel and the U.A.E., as CPJ has documented. Al-Abdallat issued a media gag order in July 2020 after a series of protests and strikes led by Jordan’s Teachers Syndicate, according to news reports.