Jordanian media is reporting that the Muslim Brotherhood there has ended its official affiliation with the Egyptian organization. According to the Jordan Times report:
Feb 14, 2016 AMMAN — The Muslim Brotherhood has modified its by-law, ending the group’s affiliation with the mother group in Cairo, a move that was described by defectors from the movement as ‘too late’.
The group on Thursday adopted an amended definition of the movement, removing ‘affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo’ from its by-law, said Murad Adaileh, a veteran member of the group and the spokesperson for its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF).
Adaileh told The Jordan Times that the amendment was proposed three years ago and was under discussion, arguing that it has ‘no relation with the recent crisis’ of the Brotherhood, which has seen hundreds defecting from the largest opposition group.
However, he declined to respond to critics who see the amendment as a ‘cosmetic’ move to improve the group’s image domestically, after it witnessed a perceived setback in its popularity in the Kingdom, amid moves by other Arab countries to demonise the 88-year-old Islamist organisation as a terrorist group.
However, Adaileh insisted that the amendment to the law would not change the entity’s position towards several issues, without further elaboration of these issues.
The crisis of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan started when a group of reformists led by Abdul Majid Thneibat re-registered the movement as a Jordanian society, severing its affiliation with its mother group in Egypt.
More than 400 members and leaders resigned from the original movement at the end of last year, some to join several splinter groups — Thneibat’s licensed Muslim Brotherhood Society, the Zamzam Initiative, and the ‘Partnership and Rescue’ committee.
Muslim Brotherhood-Jordan was licensed in 1946 as a charity affiliated with the mother group in Egypt and relicensed in 1953 as an Islamic society.
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Given the nature of the Global Muslim Brotherhood, the GMBDW agrees with critics that this is likely only a cosmetic move that will make little difference in reality.
The GMBDW reported in December of 2015 that key members of the the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood had resigned in the ongoing dispute between rival factions of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.
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.