Saudi media is reporting that the Jordanian government will re-designate the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood as independent from its Egyptian parent organization. According to a report by Asharq Al-Awsat:
March 2, 2015 Amman The Jordanian government is to re-designate the Muslim Brotherhood’s branch in the Hashemite Kingdom a Jordanian group, independent from its parent organization based in Cairo, informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday.
This follows a request made in recent weeks by a number of senior members of the group in Jordan to the country’s government, asking it to grant the branch a new license to operate in the country independent of its parent organization in Egypt. This would be the first such change from the original license granted to the group in 1946, when the Jordanian government designated it a branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood organization.
The request highlights a recent rift in the Jordanian branch of the organization, with several prominent figures expelled due to their position on the status of the group vis-à-vis its Egypt-based parent, where the organization’s main international headquarters is located.
A source within the Jordanian cabinet, who requested anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that the government had now responded to the request and voted on Sunday to grant the group a new license as a Jordanian organization, independent from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
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The GMBDW considers this rather odd development to be an attempt by the Jordanian government to allow the Brotherhood to continue to operate within the Kingdom while attempting to appease its Gulf allies.
In March 2014, the GMBDW discussed an article in a UAE newspaper suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan was facing an increasingly deteriorating situation and in July 2103, Jordanian media reported that the Jordanian Brotherhood was “in shock” over the deposition of Egyptian. Other recent developments of interest have included:
- In April 2014, the GMBDW reported that that the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood had expelled three senior members for trying to initiate reforms.
- In June 2014, we discussed an article that revealed internal conflicts within the Jordanian Brotherhood.Muslim Brotherhood.
- In December 2014, we reported that the Jordanian government had arrested 21 Muslim Brotherhood members accused of smuggling weapons and money into the West Bank.
- In February we reported that the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan had been sentenced to 18 months in prison for publicly criticising the UAE.
For a history of extremist statements made in the past by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, go here.
For an analysis of the relationship between the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood and the government, go here.