‘Brotherhood set to push through internal reforms to heal Zamzam split’

AMMAN — The Muslim Brotherhood is reportedly set to introduce a series of internal reforms to calm a growing controversy over the expulsion of three leading members for involvement in a potentially rival movement, sources say. 

In a decision late Tuesday, Hammam Saeed, overall leader of the Brotherhood’s branch in Jordan, issued a decision to overhaul an internal party court which last month rescinded the membership of Rheil Gharaibeh, Nabil Kofahi and Jamal Dheisat for their involvement in the National Building Initiative (Zamzam), according to a Brotherhood source. 

In an emergency session of the movement’s shura council, the Brotherhood’s largest decision-making body, Saeed ordered a review of the internal court’s by-laws “within the next two weeks” in light of the polarising case. 

In the same decision, Saeed also moved to “freeze” all recent decisions issued by the court, according to the source, who serves on the shura council and preferred to remain anonymous. 

“There is a consensus that the party court overstepped its jurisdiction in the recent decision,” said the source.

It was unclear as of late Thursday whether the three expelled members, who belong to the movement’s liberal faction, would be reinstated as part of the move.

In its decision, the internal court claimed that the three men failed to make their case that Zamzam will not stand as a rival political movement to the Brotherhood.

Prior to the court’s decision, Brotherhood leaders had expressed concern that the initiative, which has drawn over 800 members since its official launch in October 2013, may support policies contradictory to the Islamist movement’s stances on key issues.