Islamists accuse authorities of targeting licensed party

AMMAN — The Public Security Department (PSD) on Sunday said that one of its patrols “mistakenly” raided the Islamic Action Front Party (IAF), the “old” Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm in Amman.

In a statement, police dismissed as baseless allegations by Murad Adaileh, the IAF spokesperson, that authorities are targeting the IAF, a legally registered political party. 

PSD Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi told The Jordan Times that the department received a tip that the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters that were sealed last week were reopened.

“We sent a patrol to check that, and they went to the party’s premises by mistake,” Sartawi explained.

However, Adaileh said this is not the only IAF office raided by authorities. “They also raided our offices in Karak, Mafraq and Sahab over the few past days.”

“Authorities are targeting us as well… This is a licensed political party and there was a sign with our name at the entrance of the office,” Adaileh told The Jordan Times.

"If what the security department is saying about raiding our offices mistakenly was correct, the government should officially apologise for that mistake," he added 

The authorities on Wednesday raided the headquarters of the old Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in Abdali, downtown Amman, and ordered staff to evacuate the offices and sealed the place. 

Similar measures were reported in Jerash, Irbid and Karak, with Interior Ministry officials declaring that all such facilities would be shut down, depending on legal action taken by a rival group. 

The closure of the offices came in implementation of judicial rulings to transfer properties of the “unlicensed” MB to the splinter group, the Muslim Brotherhood Society, that officially registered last year, an official told The Jordan Times on Thursday.