INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Jordan announced on Wednesday it was banning the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist movement, accusing it of
manufacturing and stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilize the kingdom.The move comes after authorities said they arrested 16 people,
including members of the Brotherhood, over an alleged sabotage plot."It has been decided to ban all activities of the so-called Muslim
Brotherhood and to consider any activity (carried out by it) a violation of the provisions of the law," Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya
told reporters."It has also been decided to close any offices or headquarters used by the group, even if it is in partnership with any other
parties," he added, according to France 24.Their offices were also raided and documents seized, an action that could signal the beginning of
a broader crackdown on the party that dissolves it, a security source told Reuters.The Muslim Brotherhood has continued to operate in Jordan
political wing, the Islamic Action Front, is Jordan's main opposition party and the largest in parliament, having won 31 out of 138 seats in
September elections.Faraya said Jordan would also be "confiscating the group's assets in accordance with relevant judicial rulings, prohibit
the promotion of the group's ideas under penalty of legal accountability, and consider membership in it a prohibited act".The capital Amman
is home to several Muslim Brotherhood offices
The group often issues statements and organizes rallies in solidarity with the Palestinians, especially since the start of the Gaza war in
October 2023.Faraya said any collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood was banned, as was publishing any content produced by the movement
"and all its fronts and arms".It was not immediately clear whether the ban applied to the Islamic Action Front.In a parliamentary session
earlier this week, some legislators called to outlaw the activities of the Brotherhood and suspend MPs from the Islamic Action
Front.Jordan's intelligence service on April 15 announced the arrests of 16 people on "terrorism" charges, accusing them, among other
things, of manufacturing and possessing weapons such as rockets.The Muslim Brotherhood has denied being aware of any plot, dismissing it as
the acts of individuals in support of the Palestinian "resistance".The group said it has always supported "Jordan's security and
stability".Faraya charged that the group's members "are operating in the shadows and engage in activities that could undermine stability and
security".He added that authorities had found "explosives and weapons transported between Jordanian cities and stored in residential areas",
as well as covert missile manufacturing facilities and "training and recruitment operations" linked to the group."No country can accept"
such activities, the minister said.Amman had tolerated the group for decades, but since 2014 authorities have considered it illegal, arguing
its licence was not renewed under a 2014 law.The Brotherhood argues that it had already obtained licences under previous laws in the 1940s
and 1950s.It continued to operate, but its relations with the state deteriorated after the government in 2015 authorised a splinter group,
the Muslim Brotherhood Association.The Brotherhood, banned in several other Arab countries, has had grassroots support in Jordan for
This article first appeared/also appeared in Tehran Times
