Brotherhood claims licensed society backed by gov’t

AMMAN — The unlicensed Muslim Brotherhood group has again accused authorities of defying laws to facilitate measures to help the licensed society become the only representative of the movement in Jordan.

In a statement sent to The Jordan Times late Wednesday, Muath Khawaldeh, the group’s spokesperson, also criticised measures adopted by the registered society, claiming that it is backed by the government.

The society on Wednesday sent a warning to the unlicensed group requesting that they evacuate the movement’s offices, according to Abdul Majeed Thneibat, overall leader of the new society.

“All assets were officially transferred to our society,” Thneibat told The Jordan Times, but “we asked them to evacuate the offices, hand over the movement’s belongings, including money, and give us the documents we need.”  

“If they do not, we will take the case to court,” Thneibat added. 

“We reject all these measures... it is in violation of the law,” Khawaldeh said in the statement.

The assets were transferred to the new registered society after the Legislation and Opinion Bureau issued a legal ruling in May allowing the process.

The crisis of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan started when a group of reformists led by Thneibat re-registered the movement as a Jordanian society, severing its affiliation with its mother group in Egypt.

The unlicensed movement has repeatedly charged that the establishment of the new Brotherhood society is a “government conspiracy” against the Islamists.

These accusations are “baseless”, Minister of State for Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh told The Jordan Times on Thursday without further elaboration.