London - Arabstoday
Princess Sumaya
A statement issued by The Royal Scientific Society onJuly 10 2012 said it would like to correct what they described as \"an inaccurate media report\" that Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya bint
El Hassan of Jordan, and President of RSS, has cancelled her participation in the 7th International Conference on Excellence in Education, currently being held in Jerusalem saying that the RSS \"wishes to clarify that the invitation to HRH had been declined back in January and at no stage had the Princess been scheduled to travel to the Conference or to have any involvement with it. This had been communicated to Professor Yamin, one of the conference organisers, in a correspondence dated January 17, 2012, in reply to his invitation dated December 12, 2011\"The statement went on to say that \"the RSS is disappointed that fabricated reports in the Israeli web-media have stated that HRH had been scheduled to attend the conference but had cancelled due to pressure from the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. These reports were, in turn, repeated by certain elements of the Jordanian media. The RSS would like to emphasise that these reports are wholly untrue and based on ill-informed or malicious reporting. The RSS further points out that Professor Yamin, who had sent the invitation in his capacity as Director-General of the International Center for Excellence in Education in Germany, had requested HRH to address the conference in her personal capacity and not as a head or representative of any teachers’ delegation from Jordan.\"
The RSS added further clarification that HRH \"is not the chairman of the board of trustees at the Jordan University for Science and Technology, which the original Israeli report had also claimed. The RSS feels compelled to question the professionalism and quality of the journalism behind the piece and requests a retraction and apology as minimum acts of redress that should be offered by the source.
Princess Somaya, the daughter of Prince Hassan bin Talal, the former Crown Prince of Jordan, is well known internationally for her commitment to furthering science and technology for the service of Jordan and its people, in both her official and personal capacities. HRH shares a commitment with all Jordanians to drive science and technology forward and achieve sustainable development and progress for the people of Jordan.