Brotherhood dismisses senior members advocating ‘change’

AMMAN – The Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday announced it had dismissed some high-ranking members for their role to register the movement as a political party. 

The Muslim Brotherhood issued a statement saying that the shura council held an urgent meeting Saturday and discussed the issue of a group of members who were collecting signatures and holding unauthorised meetings with official agencies to register the Muslim Brotherhood under a new name.

In accordance with the movement’s regulations, the council decided to dismiss those who were involved, the statement said, adding that the executive office is due to implement this decision within a week. 

The statement, which carried the signature of the head of the shura council, Nawaf Obeidat, did not mention the names of the members who were dismissed.  

But an informed source told The Jordan Times that Abdul Majid Thneibat and Salem Falahat were among the high-ranking members dismissed, adding they were expelled because of what he described as their reform plans to register the movement as a political party licensed under Jordanian law. 

“The Muslim Brotherhood has always threatened to fire anyone with reform plans or initiatives to develop the group,” said the source, adding that shura council was to discuss the Zamzam initiative, a moderate movement founded by members of the group and other reformists from across the board. However, the issue was not tackled at the meeting. 

Zamzam has been introduced by its founders as a moderate socio-political movement launched in 2012 by the liberal wing of the Muslim Brotherhood which has attracted other members from the broader political spectrum.

Since its establishment, there has been internal dispute within the Muslim Brotherhood, which, at one point, terminated the membership of Rheil Gharaibeh, Nabil Kofahi and Jamil Dheisat by an internal tribunal late March for their participation in the establishment of Zamzam, whose official name is the National Initiative for Building.