Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood Members Resign As Dispute Between Factions Continues

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Middle Eastern media is reporting that key members of the the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood have recently resigned in the ongoing dispute between rival factions of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. According to the Al Bawaba report:

December 6th, 2015 –  Key members of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) have recently resigned amidst concerns within the party’s mother group, the Muslim Brotherhood, that they intend to form a separate political party.

In their resignation letter, a copy of which was seen by The Jordan Times, signatories argued that their collective move has come as a response from the ‘moderate’ leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood to the ‘radical and individual’ policies of the group’s ‘hawks’.

The IAF is the political arm of the Brotherhood, the largest opposition group.

The outgoing members also charged that the Brotherhood’s hawkish leadership has been taking decisions on an individual basis to serve ‘narrow interests and personal agendas’ at the expense of the group as a whole.

IAF Spokesperson Murad Adaileh said Saturday that the 28 resigning members are all participants in the newly licensed Muslim Brotherhood Society, founded by Abdul Majeed Thneibat, a former overall leader of the mother group.

‘In fact, their membership in the Muslim Brotherhood group had been revoked before [after they joined the splinter group]. However, their resignation from the IAF has been accepted anyway,’ Adaileh said.

Adaileh claimed that the exiting members, historically labelled as ‘doves’, met secretly on Saturday to discuss the possibility of forming a new political party. This was not confirmed by the departing leaders, but the move remains an unwelcome possibility as far as the old guard in the Brotherhood are concerned.

In an IAF statement to The Jordan Times Thursday, the old Muslim Brotherhood’s overall leader Hammam Saeed was quoted as saying that the establishment of a new political party violates the group’s by-laws, warning he would leave his post and the executive bureau if disagreements continue.

Read the rest here.

The Islamic Action Front is the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.

The GMBDW reported in September that  a Jordanian television station close to the Muslim Brotherhood had been prevented from broadcasting by the Jordanian government, a move likely related to the legal dispute between the Jordanian Brotherhood and a new splinter group supported by the government. We reported in March that  the Jordanian government planned to re-designate a Jordanian  Muslim Brotherhood splinter group known as the “Zamzam Initiative” as independent from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood parent organization. We reported shortly thereafter that a Muslim Brotherhood leader in exile had issued a statement disavowing the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood splinter group. We reported last month that the Jordanian  Brotherhood is seeking legal action to recover assets transferred to a what is likely the Zamzan group. Other developments of interest have included:

  • In March 2014, we discussed an article in a UAE newspaper suggesting that the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan was facing an increasingly deteriorating situation.
  • In April 2014, we reported that that the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood had expelled three senior members for trying to initiate reforms.
  • In June 2014, we discussed an article that revealed internal conflicts within the Jordanian Brotherhood Muslim Brotherhood.

For a history of extremist statements made in the past by the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, go here.

For an analysis of the relationship between the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood and the government, go here.

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