The Jordanian government announced on April 23rd that they enacted a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood and confiscated its assets after authorities linked members to a years-long plot to sabotage the Hashemite Kingdom. This move can threaten the country’s largest opposition party.
Jordan’s Interior Minister, Mazen Fraya, said that all activities of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country would be banned, and anyone promoting the group and its ideology would be held accountable by law. The ban also includes publishing anything by the Muslim Brotherhood as well as confiscating and closure of all the group’s assets and offices.
The Hashemite Kingdom said it arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood last week who were allegedly trained and financed in Lebanon and accused of manufacturing rockets and drones to prepare for an attack inside the country. Amman also attributed a foiled plot last year to a Muslim Brotherhood cell.
The government said the arrested members belonged to what it described as “unlicensed groups,“ referring to the Muslim Brotherhood. The group denied the allegations and claimed it was committed to Jordan’s national security.
In addition, Jordan’s Interior Ministry revealed that the son of one of the group’s leaders joined others in manufacturing and testing explosives to be used against security forces, without providing further details or names.
‘’It has been proven that members of the group operate in the dark and engage in activities that could destabilize the country,” the Interior Ministry said. “Members of the dissolved Muslim Brotherhood have tampered with security and national unity, and disrupted security and public order.“
Fraya also told reporters that Jordanian authorities found “explosives and weapons transported between Jordanian cities and stored in residential areas“, covert missile manufacturing facilities, and “training and recruitment operations“ linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Acting on an order from a public prosecutor, Jordanian security forces raided Muslim Brotherhood offices and began searching for documents, according to officials, adding that some of them might have been removed already or destroyed in an attempt to conceal any evidence.
There was no immediate comment from the Muslim Brotherhood, whose affiliated party, Islamic Action Front, won the highest number of seats in Jordan’s parliamentary elections last year. However, government supporters still held most of the seats. Following the announcement on April 23rd, Jordanian police surrounded and searched the party’s headquarters in Amman.
The Islamic Action Front’s Secretary-General Wael Al-Saqqa distanced the party from the Muslim Brotherhood, saying it had “no relationship with any other organizational body, whatever it may be“ and insisted that the Front is abiding by Jordan’s laws.
“We always declare that we are committed to order, the law, and the provisions of the Constitution,“ Al-Saqqa said, adding that he was surprised when Jordanian security services searched the party’s headquarters.
While the monarchy banned the Muslim Brotherhood a decade ago, it officially licensed a splinter group and continued to tolerate the Islamic Action Front while restricting some of its activities. The movement has widespread grassroots support in major urban centers across the country, and it was not immediately clear how far the latest ban would go.
