Jordan accused the Muslim Brotherhood of planning attacks in the country and introduced a ban on the group on Wednesday, in a move that could close the largest party of the nation’s opposition, the Islamic Front of Action, the political arm of the team.
The front of Islamic action won the parliament last year after a campaign against the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Here is more about the Muslim Brotherhood and its scope in the Middle East.
What is the Muslim Brotherhood?
The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni Islamic movement founded in 1928 by Hassan Al-Banna, a teacher in Egypt, who claimed that a religious renewal would help the Muslim world be seduced by colonialism and western influence.
It was sometimes contradictory to the group’s focus and avoided determining what would look like an Islamic government. Mr. Al-Banna was assassinated in 1949 at the age of 43.
However, the doctrine of the group spread throughout the area, where many political movements, which operate loose and independently, detect their roots in the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Some related groups use the Muslim Brotherhood in their names, but others do not. Similarly, some groups are explicitly linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, while others are violations or descendants.
The Muslim Brotherhood has denounced violence, but some people who are frustrated by the team’s attitude have left for more militant organizations, such as al -Qaeda.
What happened in Jordan?
The announcement on Wednesday came a week after Jordanian Security Services said they had captured 16 people who were accused of threatening national security with weapons and explosives and planning to do drones.
Jordan Minister Mazin Al Farrayeh suggested at a press conference that the plot was linked to the group, saying that “the elements of the Muslim Brotherhood” worked in the dark to carry out activities that undermine stability and violate security and national unity “.
The Muslim Brotherhood did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the ban on Jordan.
This is not the first time Jordan has moved against the team.
In 2016, Jordan closed the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Amman, the capital and 2020, a court took action to dismantle the group. But the front of Islamic action was able to continue businesses.
Experts say Jordan’s sweeping ban on Wednesday may be associated with the global impulse against Hamas, founded by a man active in the Muslim Brotherhood during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli control of the West Bank.
“My guess is that the Jordanian government feels pressured by the intensity of Trump’s administration to push people from the Gaza Strip to other countries,” said Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle Eastern Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. But he said that the reasoning was ultimately unclear.
“There is a way in which Gaza is now in the game, which raises domestic concerns for the Jordanian government, which can make them less tolerant in the political opposition and make them more fearful of domestic turmoil,” he added.
Much of the Jordanian population is Palestinian and Jordan has experienced local dissatisfaction with the Gaza war, especially after the Jordanian government supported Israel in the fall of Iranian missiles last spring.
An internal rupture in the Muslim Brotherhood of Jordan has been growing in recent years. Moderate members want to calm tensions between the government and the team, while the most aggressive factions favor the country’s rulers’ challenge to rights and reforms.
How is the team observed around the world?
During the first term of President Trump, his administration examined the Muslim Brotherhood labeling, a terrorist organization that would impose wide travel and economic restrictions on people who interact with the distant and loosely knit group.
The proposal pushed the Middle East and met with criticism from officials and experts, who said the move could have unintentional consequences.
Some Muslim Brotherhood movements in the Arab countries have defended democratic elections, causing friction to places led by authoritarian governments.
The team’s support has been reduced to places where they were once popular, such as Egypt and Tunisia, in part because governments have broken the team. In Egypt, for example, the Army rejected the first democratically elected president of the country, Mohamed Morsi, a former Brotherhood leader elected in the Arab Spring. The country’s leaders in 2013 banned the team and imprisoned many of its members.
What will follow about the front of Islamic action?
It is not immediately clear how the ban will affect Islamic activity activities.
Police are surrounding the team’s headquarters in Amman on Wednesday and at a press conference, the Secretary General of the Wael Saqqa party said members were surprised by the investigations by authorities but had voluntarily complied.
The front of Islamic action did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Vivian Nereim; David D. Kirkpatrick and Rana F. Sweis They contributed reports.
