Jordan rejected a U.S. request to release a former top Jordanian official imprisoned in an alleged plot against the Western-allied monarchy in September, the official's lawyer and family say. In March, the U.S. asked Jordan to release Bassem Awadallah, who is a dual Jordanian-American citizen, on humanitarian grounds. Awadallah has spent over two years in Jordanian prison on charges that he plotted against King Abdullah II of Jordan with the king’s own half-brother. Jordan's rejection of the request was sharply criticized by Awadallah's lawyer, John Ashcroft, who is also a former U.S. attorney general.