Jordan accused the Muslim Brotherhood of planning attacks in the country and introduced a general ban against the group on Wednesday, in a decision that could close the country’s largest opposition party, the Islamic Action Front, the group’s political arm in Jordan.
The Islamic Action Front took off in Parliament last year after campaigning against the Israeli Invasion of Gaza.
Here is more on the Muslim Brotherhood and its scope through the Middle East.
What is the Muslim Brotherhood?
The Muslim Brotherhood is an Islamist Sunni movement founded in 1928 by Hassan Al-Banna, a teacher of Egypt, who argued that a religious renewal would help the Muslim world to repel colonialism and Western influence.
He was sometimes contradictory about the attention of the group and avoided defining what an Islamic government would look like. Mr. Al-Banna was murdered In 1949 at the age of 43.
The doctrine of the group, however, has spread in the region, where many political movements, which operate in a vague and independent way, retrace their roots towards the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Some related groups use the Muslim brothers in their names, but others not. Likewise, certain groups are explicitly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, while others are ramifications or descendants.
The Muslim Brotherhood denounced violence, but some people who become frustrated by the group’s position left for more militant organizations, such as Al-Qaeda.
What happened in Jordan?
Wednesday’s announcement on Wednesday occurred a week after the Jordanian security services said they had stopped 16 people accused of threatening national security with weapons and explosives, and plans to make drones.
The Jordanian Minister of the Interior, Mazin Al Farrayeh, suggested in a press conference that the intrigue was linked to the group, affirming that “the elements of the Muslim Brotherhood” had “worked in the dark to carry out activities which undermine the stability and the falsification of security and national unity”.
The Muslim Brotherhood did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Jordan’s ban.
This is not the first time that Jordan has moved against the group.
In 2016, Jordan closed the registered office of the Muslim Brotherhood in Amman, in the capital, and in 2020, a court took measures to dissolve the group. But the Islamic Action Front was authorized to continue Operations.
Experts claim that Jordan’s ban on Wednesday could be linked to the world decline against Hamas, which was founded by an active man in the Muslim Brotherhood during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza.
“I guess the Jordanian government feels under pressure by the Trump administration’s passion to push people from the Gaza Strip to other countries,” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. But he said that the reasoning was not clear.
“There is a way to play Gaza, which creates domestic concerns for the Jordanian government, which can make them less tolerant to political opposition and make them more afraid of domestic disorders,” he added.
A large part of the Jordanian population is Palestinian, and Jordan experienced local dissatisfaction during the war in Gaza, in particular after the Jordanian government supported Israel in Downing Iranian missiles last spring.
An internal flaw in the Muslim Brotherhood of Jordan has increased in recent years. Moderate members want to calm tensions between the government and the group, while more aggressive factions prefer to contest the country’s leaders on rights and reforms.
How is the group seen in the world?
During the first term of President Trump, his administration planned to qualify the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, who would have imposed vast trips and economic restrictions on people who interact with the distant group and loosely knitted.
The proposal took a tour of the Middle East and was criticized by officials and experts, who said that this decision could have unexpected consequences.
Certain movements of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab countries have defended the democratic elections, causing friction in places led by authoritarian governments.
The support of the group decreased in places where it was once popular, such as Egypt and Tunisia, in part because the governments repressed the group. In Egypt, for example, the army filed the first democratically elected president of the country, Mohamed Morsi, a former leader of the fraternity who was elected in the midst of the Arab Spring. The country’s leaders in 2013 prohibited the group and imprisoned many of its members.
What is the next step for the Islamic Action Front?
It is not immediately known how the prohibition will affect the operations of the Islamic Action Front.
Police surrounded the group’s headquarters in Amman on Wednesday, and at a press conference, the secretary general of the party, Wael Saqqa, said that the members had been surprised by the searches made by the authorities, but had voluntarily respected.
The Islamic Action Front did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Vivian Nereim,, David D. Kirkpatrick And Rana F. Sweis Contributed reports.
