Jordan outlaws Muslim Brotherhood, confiscates assets

Jordan has outlawed the largest opposition group in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood. The group is an ally of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.

The group is an ally of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas.

Formed as the Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in 1928, it is a transnational Sunni Islamist organisation.

After members of the group were found to be linked to a sabotage plot, its assets were confiscated, said Jordan's Interior Minister Mazen Fraya, as reported by Reuters. He stated, "It has been decided to ban all activities of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood and to consider any [of its] activity a violation of the provisions of the law”.

He added that any promoter of the group's ideology will be held accountable by law.

Jordanian security forces arrested 16 people linked to the Muslim Brotherhood last week who were trained and financed in Lebanon. They are alleged to have plotted attacks on targets inside the kingdom involving rockets and drones.

The ban extends to everything that may be published by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The group has released no official comment on the actions by Jordanian authorities.

JORDAN WAS ONE OF THE FEW WHERE GROUP OPERATED LEGALLY

The Muslim Brotherhood has operated legally from Jordan for decades and has a wide supporter base spread across major urban centres and scores of offices across the country. It follows the Sunni Islamist ideology and consolidates with the goal of establishing a caliphate under sharia law.

Last September, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Brotherhood in Jordan, made significant gains in parliamentary elections. It secured 31 out of 138 seats by tapping into anger over Israel's war against Hamas.

The group has been outlawed in many Arab countries, who consider it a dangerous “terrorist group” that must be crushed, as mentioned by Reuters.

Egypt, where it originated, has listed it as a terrorist organisation.

Even though the Brotherhood claims that it publicly renounced violence decades ago and pursues an Islamist vision using peaceful means, the Arabic countries opposing it want it to be disbanded.