Jordan’s interior minister on Wednesday announced that the kingdom was banning the Muslim Brotherhood and promoting its “ideology” was now illegal.
Mazin Abdellah Hilal al-Farrayeh declared a total ban on the group in a press briefing, saying that “any activity by the group, regardless of its nature, is considered a violation of the law”.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s offices and premises will now be shut down, and their assets confiscated, he added.
Farrayeh said that affiliation and any interaction with the group is now banned and that promotion of its “ideology” will result in criminal prosecution.
“Legal measures will be taken against any individual or entity proven to be involved in criminal activities linked to the declared cases or the dissolved group,” he said.
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The minister said that all political entities, media outlets, users on social media, civil society organisations, and other entities were now prohibited from dealing with or publishing anything by the Muslim Brotherhood or its affiliates.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Cairo 1928 and is one of the world’s largest and best-known political Islam groups.
It has long maintained it is a peaceful organisation that wishes to participate in politics democratically, but is considered a major threat by many autocratic governments in the Middle East and North Africa.
The organisation is banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Jordan branch has kept a low profile in recent years, though its members and people affiliated with it have vocally condemned Israel’s war on Gaza and urged Arab support for the Palestinians under attack there.
On 15 April, Jordanian authorities said they had arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood who had allegedly plotted attacks on targets inside the kingdom involving rockets and drones.
According to the authorities, at least one rocket was ready to be launched as part of an operation that had been under surveillance by security forces since 2021.
In a statement given to Reuters, the Brotherhood denied any links to the alleged plot and insisted that the group’s Jordan branch has operated legally for decades.
Farrayeh alleged that the group had attempted to smuggle and destroy a large number of documents in order to “hide its activities and suspicious affiliations”, and that the explosives and weapons were being moved between cities in the kingdom and stored in residential neighbourhoods.
He alleged that rockets were being manufactured and concealed in the outskirts of Amman, with training and recruitment operations taking place both domestically and abroad.
In September, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), won the most votes in Jordan’s parliamentary elections, driven by its stance on Palestine.
It was not immediately clear how the announcement would impact the IAF.
On Tuesday, the party said that it had suspended three members for alleged involvement in last week’s plot.
Farrayeh said that following the announcement of foiling the plot, Jordanian security agencies had uncovered an operation to manufacture and test explosives carried out by the son of one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders, among other alleged operatives.
The organisation had already been ordered to dissolve following a July 2020 ruling from Jordan’s Court of Cassation. That decision affirmed that the Muslim Brotherhood had no legal basis to exist in Jordan.
But elements of the group had been working in secret and undertaking activities that “threatened to undermine stability, security, and national unity, while disturbing public order”, claimed Farrayeh.
He alleged that explosives and weapons were being manufactured, concealed and moved by the group throughout Jordan, including in residential neighbourhoods, and that operatives were being trained inside and outside the country.
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