Brotherhood entitled to hold rally — expert

AMMAN — A legal expert has said that the delegitimised Muslim Brotherhood group can legally hold a planned rally on May 1, despite implied threats by authorities to ban the function.

“There is no legal reason that prevents the Muslim Brotherhood from holding their activity, even if they are not registered,” the jurist, who preferred to remain unnamed, told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

As per the Public Gatherings Law, he explained, the names of seven applicants and their addresses should be included in the notification they forward to the ministry, 48 hours before holding their gathering, which is planned to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Islamist group, then as branch of a mother organisation founded and based in Egypt.

However, the source, an expert in constitutional law, explained that authorities can only interfere during the activity, if they deem that the rally is threatening security. 

The remarks by the jurist came amid speculations of showdown between the government and the Brotherhood, weeks after a group of leaders obtained a new licence in the same name, disengaging from the Egyptian group.

In legal terms, the older group, referred to in the media as “the group” has lost legitimacy in favour of the new one, dubbed “the society”. 

Last week, Interior Minister Hussein Majali warned that no party or group would be allowed to organise public gatherings or activities “on behalf of foreign groups” on Jordanian territory.

He did not mention the Muslim Brotherhood group by name, and the group played on this. Its spokesperson, Muath Khawaldeh, told The Jordan Times that the minister was not necessarily referring to the Brotherhood, stressing that participants in the planned rally would not break any law.

“All that is required is that we notify the concerned authorities,” Khawaldeh told The Jordan Times.

“The law is clear and it is not of any party’s interest to violate the law,” Khawaldeh said.

However, in his statement, Majali noted that public gatherings and freedom of speech are rights guaranteed by the Constitution as long as they comply with the law.