Jordan bans Muslim Brotherhood after arrests over attack plots

Jordan’s government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood a week after it said members of the Islamist group had been arrested on suspicion of planning rocket and drone attacks.

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya told a news conference that all of the Brotherhood’s offices would be closed and its assets confiscated, and that any activities would be considered illegal.

There was no immediate response from the Brotherhood, which denied any links to the alleged attack plots.

It is not clear how the ban will affect the group’s political arm, the Islamic Action Front, which is the largest opposition group in parliament. But its headquarters was raided by police following Faraya’s announcement.

The IAF’s secretary general, Wael Saqqa, insisted that it was an independent political party, explaining that it had “no relationship with any other organisational body”.

“We always declare that we are committed to order, the law, and the provisions of the constitution,” he said.

In 2020, Jordan’s top court ruled that the Brotherhood was “dissolved” because it had not settled its legal status.

However, the group continued its political and other activities, and the IAF participated in last year’s parliamentary elections, winning 31 out of the 138 seats.

Last week, Jordan’s General Intelligence Department said it had arrested 16 people suspected of planning attacks aimed at “targeting national security, sowing chaos and sabotage”.

They involved possession of explosives and automatic weapons, the manufacture of rockets, the concealment of one rocket ready to be launched, a project to manufacture drones, and the training of individuals both in Jordan and abroad, it said.

Faraya claimed during Wednesday’s news conference that members of the Brotherhood “operate in the shadows and engage in activities that could undermine stability and security”.

Authorities had found “explosives and weapons transported between Jordanian cities and stored in residential areas”, as well as covert rocket manufacturing facilities and training and recruitment operations, he alleged.

He also said Brotherhood members had attempted to remove and destroy documents from their headquarters “in an effort to conceal their activities and suspicious affiliations”.

The group has denied having any involvement in, or knowledge of, the alleged attack plot and stressed that it is “committed to its peaceful approach”.

The Brotherhood was founded in Egypt almost 100 years ago and has local branches across the world. One of its aims is to create a state ruled by Islamic law, or Sharia.

It is outlawed in Egypt and several Arab countries, whose governments see it as a threat.