Jordan’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that it would enforce a widespread ban on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that has been outlawed in several other Arab countries.
The announcement came a week after Jordanian security services said that they had arrested 16 people accused of plotting threats to national security involving weapons, explosives and plans to manufacture drones and train combatants, both at home and abroad.
The Jordanian interior minister, Mazin Al Farrayeh, suggested in a televised news conference on Wednesday that the plot was connected to the group, saying “elements of the Muslim Brotherhood” had “worked in darkness to carry out activities that undermine stability and tamper with security and national unity.”
He said explosives and weapons had been discovered and added that the night the plot was announced, the Muslim Brotherhood had “tried to smuggle and destroy a large number of documents.” He also said authorities had discovered an explosives manufacturing operation connected to a son of one of the group’s leaders.
Jordan had already taken steps toward disbanding the Muslim Brotherhood in a 2020 court decision, and had closed the group’s headquarters in the capital, Amman, in 2016.
Opponents of the Brotherhood argue it is a dangerous group that paves the way toward religious extremism and violence. Supporters, as well as some scholars, argue that authoritarian states across the Middle East have targeted the group because they see Islamist political mobilization as the greatest threat to their own grip on power.
It was not immediately clear how the new ban would affect the Islamic Action Front, a political arm of the Brotherhood in Jordan, which formed a coalition that won 31 out of 138 seats in a parliamentary election last year and made opposition to the Israeli invasion of Gaza the centerpiece of its campaign.
On Wednesday, police officers surrounded the party’s headquarters. In a news conference, Wael Saqqa, the party’s secretary general, said members had been surprised by the searches conducted by security authorities but had willingly opened their files and offices.
“We believe that everything we do is according to the law,” he said.
Amer Al Sabaileh, a Jordanian political analyst, called this a “pivotal moment for Jordan,” which had previously allowed elements of the Brotherhood to operate with varying degrees of freedom.
“The relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood has fundamentally changed and will not return to its previous state,” he said. “By taking this clear stance, Jordan is aligning itself with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, all of which have adopted a hard-line approach to the brotherhood.”
Murad Adaileh, a member of the Islamic Action Front, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
Mousa Wahsh, an Islamist lawmaker, told Al Araby television channel that he did not believe the decision would affect the political party, which “operates independently” from the Brotherhood.
“The group’s approach is a peaceful approach that has not changed, and anyone who deviates from this approach will not remain in the group,” he said.
The government statement on Wednesday was a rare acknowledgment of instability in Jordan, an Arab monarchy that cooperates closely with the United States on counterterrorism, receives substantial American aid and has had a longstanding peace treaty with neighboring Israel.
With roughly half its population made up of Palestinians, Jordan has experienced simmering discontent over the war in Gaza and broader regional fighting — particularly after Jordan supported Israel in shooting down missiles during an Iranian aerial attack last spring.
During its electoral campaign last year, the Islamic Action Front also criticized the Jordanian government’s domestic policies, seeking to capitalize on discontent over unemployment, corruption, poverty and other issues.
Ismaeel Naar contributed reporting from Dubai.