Legislation bureau says newly licensed Brotherhood entitled to manage group’s assets

AMMAN — The Legislation and Opinion Bureau on Thursday issued a fatwa (legal edict) allowing the transfer of the assets of the old Muslim Brotherhood group to the new “licensed” Muslim Brotherhood Association.

The fatwa, according to the bureau’s director, Nofan Ajarmeh, was issued based on a request received from the Land and Survey Department.

The crisis of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan started when a group of reformists re-registered the group as a Jordanian association, since it has been affiliated with its mother group in Egypt.

Following the move, led by Abdul Majeed Thneibat, who is the overall leader of the newly registered association, a request was sent to the Land and Survey Department to seize all assets owned by the older group.

“We are the legal leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it is our right to take over the management of these assets,” Thneibat told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

He added that some of the properties are registered in the name of the group and others in the name of the overall leader.

“Now, there will be no need for us to go to the court, the assets will be automatically transferred to our jurisdiction and under the registration number we have,” Thneibat explained.

Muath Khawaldeh, the spokesperson of the old Brotherhood declined to comment on the decision.

One day before the fatwa was issued, the overall leader of the old group charged that the establishment of the new Brotherhood association is a “government conspiracy” against the Islamists.

In an interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite news channel, Hammam Saeed called on founders of the new Brotherhood to “repent and reconsider” their decision.

The Muslim Brotherhood-Jordan was licensed in 1946 as a charity affiliated with the mother group in Egypt and relicensed in 1953 as an Islamic society, but kept its affiliation with the Egyptian peer.