Jordan outlaws Muslim Brotherhood opposition group

The Jordanian Interior Ministry said the Islamist opposition group had been linked to a sabotage plot. The group has operated legally for decades, though it is banned in other Arab countries.

The Jordanian Interior Ministry outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most prominent opposition group, on Wednesday, closing its offices and confiscating its assets.

Interior Minister Mazen al-Faraya said the decision was a response to a sabotage plot to which a son of one of the group's leaders had been linked and would take immediate effect.

What did Jordan say about the Muslim Brotherhood ban?
"It has been decided to ban all activities of the so-called Muslim Brotherhood and to consider any [of its] activity a violation of the provisions of the law," Faraya said, adding that any promoters of the group's ideology would be held accountable by law.

"It has been proven that members of the group operate in the dark and engage in activities that could destabilize the country," read an Interior Ministry statement.

"Members of the dissolved Muslim Brotherhood have tampered with security and national unity, and disrupted security and public order."

The ban extends to anything that is published by the group.

Following the announcement, police surrounded and searched the party's headquarters in the capital, Amman.

What is the Muslim Brotherhood?
The Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in many Arab countries, has operated legally in Jordan for decades.

Its Sunni Islamist ideology and stated goal of establishing a caliphate under sharia law enjoys grass-roots support in major urban centers in Jordan.

The political arm of the Brotherhood in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), made significant gains in parliamentary elections in September, tapping into anger over Israel's war against Hamas to win 31 out of 138 seats.

"The Jordanian people have given us their trust by voting for us," said IAF leader Wael al-Saqqa at the time – although turnout was measured at just 32%.

Murad Adailah, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood, said the IAF's victory amounted to a "popular referendum" endorsing the group's support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The movement says it publicly renounced violence decades ago and now claims to pursue its Islamist aims using peaceful means.

But opponents maintain that it is a terrorist organization and it is listed as such in Egypt, where it originated in the 1920s.