Authorities crack down on Muslim Brotherhood in two governorates

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

A senior official told The Jordan Times that the closure of the offices came in implementation of judicial rulings to transfer properties of the “unlicensed” MB to a rival splinter group that officially registered last year.

The official, who asked to remain unnamed, explained that the “illegal” old MB attempted to carry out several activities and the newly established Muslim Brotherhood Society contested that to the authorities.

Another government source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Jordan Times that although the authorities banned the old group from holding its “internal” elections, it conducted them “secretly”, violating the country’s laws.

The Muslim Brotherhood group was considered “illegal” after the registration of the society a year ago, following a first wave of a defection  within the movement, led by former overall leader Abdul Majeed Thneibat, whose group posed as legitimate replacement of the local mother group.

The Muslim Brotherhood group was licensed in 1946 as a charity affiliated with its international mother group in Egypt and was relicensed in 1953 as an Islamic society.  Although the group modified its by-laws two months ago, ending their affiliation to Egypt, it is still labelled as “illegal” by authorities, because they were expected to re-register in a new capacity as an NGO.

Badi Rafaiaa, a group’s spokesperson, said: “We were shocked that security forces raided our premises this morning, asked us to leave the place and sealed it,” after presenting the staff with an official letter from Amman governor informing them with his decision to shut down the place.

“This is a breach of our legal rights”, Rafaiaa charged, adding that the group would resort to the judiciary, as “we have not received a notification earlier”.

For his part, Thneibat said this issue is between the government and the “unlicensed” brotherhood. 

They violated the law and had to deal with the consequences, he added.

Later in the day, authorities sealed the brotherhood’s premises in Jerash Governorate, some 48km north of Amman.