Top court deals blow to Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood organization

The Court of Cassation ruling said the Muslim Brotherhood did not correct its legal status. (Petra)

• The ruling considers the group illegal because it did not correct its legal status in accordance with Jordanian laws

AMMAN: A five-man court of cassation in Jordan has ruled that the country’s Muslim Brotherhood has no right to property and other assets that previously belonged to the dissolved Islamist organization.
“The court headed by Judge Mohammad Matruq Ajarmeh ruled that the 2015-registered Brotherhood’s claims to the defunct organization are invalid since the latter no longer exists legally,” a statement said.
Moath Khawaldeh, spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said that the decision was not final and could be appealed.
Khawaldeh was quoted as saying that the legal team of the Muslim Brotherhood was ready to carry out legal submissions as soon
as possible.
Advocate Bassam Freihat also said that the decision of the high Jordanian court was not final and could be challenged in the appeals court.
Freihat said that the current Muslim Brotherhood was fighting different legal cases to regain its assets and that it had lost some cases and won others.
The organization was registered in Jordan in 1946 and has been participating in politics there ever since. It has been represented in Jordan’s parliament in successive years, including the current parliament, under the guise of the Islamic Action Front party.
A section of the Muslim Brotherhood split off and established a new organization with the same name, which was registered with the Ministry of Social Affairs. The new organization is fighting in the courts to regain its assets from the mother organization.
Marwan Shehadeh, an expert on Islamic political parties, told Radio Al-Balad that while “this is a legal decision it has political consequences because it reflects the differences between successive governments and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Islamists have participated in general elections through the Islamic Action Front, and according to Shehadeh still wield political power. “Despite having lost this case, the Muslim Brotherhood through their political arm continues to be effective when they choose because they are able to take positions independently.”
During the elections of the current 18th Jordanian parliament, candidates from the Islamic Action Front won 15 of the 130 seats. New elections are expected this fall, although no official decision or royal decree has been issued about this.
Shehadeh believes that the current Muslim Brotherhood may try to find a loophole to appeal the ruling, but expressed skepticism about the success of such an effort.
“The government insists on the illegitimacy of the Muslim Brotherhood as far as the assets are concerned. I am sure that the government will do everything it can to not allow the transfer of the assets that used to belong to the old 1946-registered organization to the new 2015-registered organization that has been certified as a legal entity.”