IAF figures meet with Razzaz over members’ dismissal since gov’t took charge of Islamic Centre Society

AMMAN — Prime Minister Omar Razzaz on Tuesday met with Secretary General of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) Party Murad Adayleh at the Prime Ministry.

Adayleh and a number of representatives from the Islamic Centre Society’s follow-up committee made a request, after a sit-in in January, to discuss the IAF’s demands.

Talks addressed various issues, including reversing the society’s temporary administrative body’s decision to dismiss some members for not paying subscriptions. 

The meeting was attended by a number of IAF leaders and figures, such as Hamzah Mansour, MP Hayat Mesimi, Azzam Hunaidi and Hikmat Rawashdeh, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

On the government’s side, Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Maaytah, Minister of State for Legal Affairs Mubarak Abu Yamin, Secretary General of the Ministry of Interior Raed Adwan and the director of the charitable organisations department at the Ministry of Social Development Ayed Abbadi, also attended the meeting. 

Last January, the Islamic Centre Society’s follow-up committee orchestrated a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Social Development, demanding the reinstatement of members who were dismissed by the society’s administration, according to a statement sent to The Jordan Times by the society.

Supporters, beneficiaries and a group of the general assembly's members and employees who were dismissed from the society, as well as deputies and national figures gathered for the sit-in, the statement added.

In 2005, the government took control of the Islamic Centre Society’s board, the charitable arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming suspicions of corruption.

The Islamists, on the other hand, saw the move as “purely political”, meant to rein in an “opposition group”.

The charity’s board was dismantled and state-appointed individuals have since run the affairs of the organisation.

Notably, the society’s operations include a hospital, several schools and other components that serve local communities, and which, according to observers, have helped the Islamists earn popularity, especially in the underserved parts of major cities.